Five months later, Omar Morales is still feeling it.
The UFC featherweight remains motivated following his first professional defeat this past October at UFC Fight Night 179. Morales (10-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) lost a unanimous decision to the highly touted Giga Chikadze. Now, the Venezuelan fighter returns to the cage to fight Shane Young on Saturday’s UFC 260 preliminary card in Las Vegas.
Morales is eager to get in the cage and admitted he’s still feeling the burn from defeat.
“I’m still fired up. I don’t like to lose, and much less in this sport,” Morales told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “This is not a baseball game. You lose a baseball game, if you’re an athlete it’s like, ‘Oh well, you lost the game.’ But when they beat you in this sport, the critics are truly harsh – and that doesn’t really bother me too much. I just wanted to be undefeated and keep climbing the ladder.
“I think the unbeaten record definitely calls for more attention and maybe it could’ve made it easier to go up in the rankings much faster. I have a lot of motivation going into this fight and I’m going to give it my all in there.”
Despite experiencing the bitter taste of defeat, Morales is glad he did. The 35-year-old knew that day could come and said it’s been motivating him to reach his full potential.
“The defeat did me well,” Morales said. “It gave me a push that I needed to train harder, be more focused, and to be in search for a higher level as an athlete.
“I was ready. It’s not like I’ve been training for two or three years. I started this at a very young age, and at some point I knew that I was going to suffer a defeat. I didn’t expect it at this moment, that’s true. But maybe it was a mistake from my part – debuting at 145 pounds, against a very tough opponent, and with a very long trip.
“I should’ve done it with a shorter trip and be able to see how my body felt at the new weight. Instead, I went against a top opponent – who I actually want to meet again under better conditions. That night, I didn’t feel good at all. I felt slow. He realized that and took advantage of it. Chikadze knew I was very slow, so he would stick and move, stick and move. I wasn’t able to find him all fight. I walked forward, I looked for the fight all night, but he was very smart and intelligent and took the win.”
Morales has had no easy run for his UFC start and it doesn’t seem like that’s going to change. The Sanford MMA product has a tough test in front of him with City Kickboxing’s Young.
“I think he’s a great opponent,” Morales said. “He has that fight against (Alexander) Volkanovski, who’s the current champion, and went three rounds. That’s not an easy thing to do. I saw that fight and I’ve been watching him. Volkanovski looked to finish that fight and he pressured him and I believe Shane took that fight on short notice – even then, he went the distance.
“That tells me he’s a great fighter, and that motivates me because I’m not afraid of that. I want to face the best, and that’s it. I’m ready. I did a great training camp. My coaches were great, and my training partners helped me a ton. I’m focused, and this weekend all the work that I did will be seen in the fight.”
After first loss, Omar Morales motivated for UFC 260 return: ‘The defeat did me well’