LAS VEGAS – Michael Morales is not in the business of trash talking.
The Ecuadorian prospect made it clear he’s only interested in what’s done in the cage, not outside of it, in his fight against Max Griffin at Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 47.
Morales (15-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) defeated Griffin (19-10 MMA, 7-8 UFC) with a unanimous decision and after speaking to the media, he explained why he didn’t engage his opponent in trash talk despite getting thrown some shots his way at Wednesday’s media day.
“I train to fight, not to talk,” Morales said in Spanish to reporters at the post-fight press conference. “I always do my job, and I’m always proud of my team. I give everything I have in training, and I feel like my work spoke for itself. I didn’t need to do more talking than necessary. I don’t know why he said those things or what was going through his mind, but I’m very happy with what I said, felt and showed in the cage.”
As far as the performance itself, Morales kept his unbeaten record and move to 3-0 in the UFC. He also took home a few bumps and bruises given the tough nature of the fight.
Morales is not completely satisfied with his performance, but happy he got his hand raised in the end. He thinks he has more to give than what he showed on Saturday night.
“I think it was just the discipline,” Morales said when asked about the adversity of the fight. “I stayed attentive to his strikes and focused on all the work that I was doing. I was countering. I know that my shots hurt him a lot because his face is busted up. He said that he was going to try to dominate me and fight forward. He did that, and I also did the same. I did my work. I said I was going to give it my all, and the fight went down how it went down. I feel like I could’ve done better. I feel like I could’ve given more, but everything still worked out, thank God.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 47.
