Former UFC star Marlon Moraes retired from fighting in April after losing his fourth consecutive fight, but has now announced his comeback by signing with the PFL.
Moraes, 34, left his gloves in the octagon after he was knocked out by Song Yadong at a UFC Fight Night event in March. The Brazilian insisted he was done with fighting, but said he would still stick around in the sport only to help his training partners get ready for their respective fights. Six months after his last fight, Moraes has made a U-turn on his retirement vow by signing with the PFL.
"Guys I wanna announce I’m coming home where I started," Moraes wrote. "I wanna thank the legend Ray Sefo and PFL, get ready for some fireworks. Thank you to all the fans for the good messages and even to the haters, I love you guys and without you this would not be possible."
Before he signed for the UFC in 2017, Moraes was once a bantamweight champion for WSOF, the original iteration of the PFL before their rebranding. PFL are yet to officially announce the signing as the final details are still being finalised.
Moraes is the latest UFC veteran to join the PFL roster as featherweight Shane Burgos and light-heavyweight Thiago Santos also recently parted ways with the UFC to join the promotion. Moraes is expected to compete at featherweight in the 2023 season, but he hinted at a debut in November by tweeting: "Now I get to fight on the same card [as] Kayla Harrison."
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Harrison, who trains at the same gym as Moraes, looks to win her third PFL title on November 25 when she fights Larissa Pacheco for the women's lightweight title. Moraes' tweet indicates he could be competing on the card, in which PFL will hand-out $1million purses to the six champions that are crowned on the night.
Moraes went unbeaten in four fights after losing his UFC debut to Raphael Assuncao, knocking out the likes of Jimmie Rivera and Aljamain Sterling on his path to a title shot. 'Magic' came up short against Henry Cejudo for the 135lb title and despite rebounding with a win against Jose Aldo later that year, he was stopped in all four of his next fights and subsequently retired.
