Skidding Marlon Moraes feels indebted to fans to win at PFL 1, responds to calls for retirement

Marlon Moraes thinks he owes his fans a victory at 2023 PFL 1.

Moraes (23-11-1) will look to snap a five-fight losing skid when he faces 2022 PFL featherweight champion Brendan Loughnane (26-4) April 1 at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. The event will have a main card on ESPN and ESPN Deportes following prelims on ESPN+.

Rebounding against the promotion’s most recent champion will be a tough task, but Moraes wants to prove his doubters wrong and show that he can still compete at a high level.

“I’m excited for the season, and I feel like I’m in debt with some of my fans, and this is the mentality I’m coming with for 2023,” Moraes told MMA Junkie Radio. “I have so many people that support me, that like to see me performing, and I want to get in there starting April 1 and show to all these guys what I still can do, and I want to cement this season as – I don’t know if I’m going to be the champion at the end of the season, but one thing I’m going to do for sure is give so many good fights for my fans.”

Having been knocked out in his past five fights, many have urged Moraes to hang up his gloves. But Moraes, who holds wins over former longtime UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and current UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, said he had a very tough road in the UFC and was never really given a rebound fight.

“I can’t wait to fight again, and a lot of people are questioning, ‘Should he fight? What’s he doing? It’s a tough fight.’ But I never had an easy fight,” Moraes said. “Since 2017 when I signed with the UFC, I faced Raphael (Assuncao) in my first fight. Raphael was top seven in the world and since then, I never faced an easy fight.”

He continued, “I just got a bad streak. The UFC didn’t want to give me an opening. They didn’t want to give me like Cody Garbrandt got (Trevin Jones) in the last fight, a get-back fight. I never got that get-back fight.”