Michael Morales has officially arrived as a title contender in the welterweight division after a devastating first-round knockout over Sean Brady at UFC 322
The undefeated powerhouse showed no fear walking
onto the biggest stage of his career as he continuously stabbed at Brady with a lead jab that was giving the noted grappling a lot of problems. Once he had Brady backing up, Morales unleashed a barrage of punches in succession including a huge overhand right that led to a knockdown.
Morales followed Brady to the ground where he continued to hammer away with punches until the referee had no choice but to stop the fight at 3:27 in the opening round.
“Boss, Dana [White], my belt. I need the belt,” Morales shouted after his win. “This is for everybody from Ecuador that is here. We knew that he was a stocky welterweight, somebody who was really strong. You smell knockouts if that’s what’s going to happen. I think it worked and everybody enjoyed the fight.”
A physically imposing welterweight, Morales kept his stance low to deal with a potential takedown as he looked to establish an early jab. Morales eventually clipped Brady and the Philadelphia native was wobbled immediately.
Morales went for the kill but Brady defended well enough to survive the onslaught. Still, Morales was consistently landing that same nasty jab that was giving Brady problems in almost every exchange.
Brady just could not get inside and Morales was hurting him constantly with his combinations.
With his confidence surging, Morales popped Brady again and then uncorked a beautiful overhand right that connected clean to the side of the head. Brady stumbled to the ground as Morales just continued throwing shots until the fight was stopped.
It was a flawless victory for Morales, who moved to 19-0 in his career with the win and undoubtedly puts himself in a position where a title shot could be coming sooner than later.
As for Brady it was obviously a disappointing outcome after he submitted a former champion in Leon Edwards in his previous outing but now has to begin his climb again following the knockout loss to Morales on Saturday.
