Moraes Retires From UFC

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) 135-pound champion Marlos Moraes was the No. 1-ranked bantamweight in the world and just one victory away from capturing the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title.

Then came a technical knockout loss to Henry Cejudo at the UFC 238 pay-per-view (PPV) event and “Magic” was never the same. The Brazilian would rebound with a narrow decision over Jose Aldo but then dropped four straight, all by way of knockout/technical knockout.

Moraes, who turns 34 later this month, is calling it a career.

“I want to thank everyone — Sean Shelby, Dana White and the UFC for giving me so many opportunities,” Moraes said in a statement released by his manager, Ali Abdelaziz. “I wanna thank my family, my coaches, my manager, everybody who has been around and been part of my career. I want to say thank you to Mark Henry, Ricardo Almeida, Frankie Edgar, Anderson Franca and Hunter Campbell. I’m still gonna be around the sport helping young guys and helping my friends.”

Moraes finishes 23-10-1 with 16 stoppages (10 knockouts and 6 submissions).

Losing “Magic” will create an opening in the Top 15 of the bantamweight division when the list is updated early next week (see the complete rankings here). Moraes is currently sitting in the No. 14 spot after his knockout loss to Yadong Song at UFC Vegas 50.