Undefeated 170-pound contender Michael Morales jumped 4 spots to #8 within the up to date UFC welterweight rankings.
This comes after Ecuador’s devastating spherical one knockout of former UFC Welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns at UFC Apex final weekend.
Michael Morales jumps to #8 within the newest UFC welterweight rankings
Following a devastating round-1 knockout victory over Gilbert Burns at UFC Combat Evening final weekend, Michael Morales jumped to fourth within the newest UFC welterweight rankings.
Burns, after all, is a former UFC welterweight title contender, and the victory has firmly knowledgeable the remainder of the 170 pound division.
Coming into the hardest battle of his profession towards the Brazilian, Morales ranked twelfth in welterweight. He solely had 5 fights within the UFC, so he gained all of them.
Now he has gained six of the six on the UFC after one other spectacular show final time. Actually, the 25-year-old has proven greater than he belongs to the world class, coping with Burns greater than anybody as of late.
At the moment, Morales has jumped over 4 spots and is formally ranked eighth within the up to date rankings. He not solely climbed over Jeff Neil, Stephen Thompson and Colby Covington, however he bouncing off the burns.
Now, Morales will firmly set his eyesight within the high 5 within the welterweight division. He wants a number of extra wins earlier than folks discuss in regards to the Ecuadorians as actual title contenders, however that would occur inside the subsequent 12 months.
If Michael Morales continues his present trajectory, he could also be speaking about future UFC champions and MMA phenoms over the subsequent few years. There is no such thing as a doubt within the meantime.
Who will you oppose Michael Morales’ subsequent struggle?
As he shot extra of the UFC welterweight rankings, followers have already spoken about anybody who needs to see Michael Morales struggle subsequent.
The 18-0 undefeated welterweight contender has gained every of his six UFC fights since being impressed by Dana White’s candidate sequence. Of those six victories, 4 of them got here by highlighted knockouts.
Now, Morales is firmly aiming for the highest 5 within the 170 pound division. Among the names nonetheless ranked above him embody Ian Garry, Joaquin Buckley, Kamal Usman, Leon Edwards, Shavkat Rakmonov, Sean Brady, Beral Muhammad and naturally champion Jack Della Madarena.
Of those names, the fights which have the subsequent most blatant which means to the 25-year-old are Edwards, Usman, Buckley, and even perhaps Garry.
Buckley and Usman conflict in a couple of weeks, so Morales actually might have one eye on the struggle and struggle the loser. Ian Garry is refreshing from his final spectacular victory, in order that struggle additionally makes good sense.
The match towards former champion Leon Edwards is unbelievable for the Ecuadorians. If he might even get that struggle and beat “Rocky,” he would quickly be within the title photograph for the 2026 shot.
However Morales must spend time and put collectively a couple of extra wins earlier than he even considers a UFC welterweight title shot.
Within the subsequent battle of Islam Makhachev, he challenged Jack Della Madrena for the title and confirmed that he would rise from 155 kilos to struggle the brand new welterweight king.
Time tells Morales’ subsequent transfer and who he’ll face subsequent. He actually has loads of choices!