{"id":869387,"date":"2026-08-26T19:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T19:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/869387\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T19:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T19:44:13","slug":"ex-ufc-title-challenger-returns-this-weekend-after-seven-straight-knockout-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/869387\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-UFC Title Challenger Returns This Weekend After Seven-Straight Knockout Losses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5q\">A decorated MMA veteran that previously fought for UFC gold will attempt to snap a seven-fight skid when he competes this Friday in his native Brazil. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5v\">The summer is slowly coming to an end, but the MMA slate is as packed as ever with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/dana-white-s-contender-series-2026-week-3-live-stream-results-highlights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dana White\u2019s Contender Series having just concluded its third card of the 2026 season<\/a> and the UFC headed to Shanghai this weekend for both a Road to UFC and UFC Fight Night event <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/ufc-sacramento-free-live-stream-results-highlights-for-hernandez-vs-rodrigues\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">following last Saturday\u2019s UFC Sacramento card<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"60\">This weekend also features events from the likes of Shooto Brasil, LFA, Road FC, and plenty of other regional organizations, including Curitiba-based Liga Monstro Combate. <\/p>\n<p>Ex-UFC Title Challenger Marlon Moraes Returns to MMA at Brazil&#8217;s LMC 2<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6a\">LMC held its first event in Curitiba in June, which featured a number of UFC veterans and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/ufc-shockingly-parts-ways-fighter-undefeated-record\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">saw Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos score a first-round finish over Jesse Taylor<\/a> in the main event to win the promotion\u2019s welterweight belt. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">That card also saw former UFC standout and ONE Championship titleholder John Lineker take a unanimous decision over Rogerio Ferreira in a boxing match, while fellow UFC veterans Junior Albini and Raffael Cerqueira both came up short in their respective bouts. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">John Lineker is the Liga Monstro Combate boxing champion of the world. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YucqEfk0q6\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/YucqEfk0q6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Grabaka_Hitman\/status\/2063482796337758661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">June 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">This Friday\u2019s LMC 2 card is also headlined by a name that will be familiar to longtime MMA fans, as former UFC title challenger Marlon Moraes is set to face Maximiliano Perez in the night\u2019s main event. <\/p>\n<p>Marlon Moraes Fought for UFC Title After Stellar WSOF Run<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">A veteran of 47 professional MMA fights, Moraes first rose to prominence during an undefeated run with the World Series of Fighting that saw the Brazilian go 11-0 with the promotion and bring his overall win streak to 13 fights. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01m0zjvk85ybvqbf8883.jpg\" alt=\"Marlon Moraes (red gloves) walks to the Octagon before a bout against Jose Aldo (blue gloves) during UFC 245 at T-Mobile Aren\" title=\"Marlon Moraes (red gloves) walks to the Octagon before a bout against Jose Aldo (blue gloves) during UFC 245 at T-Mobile Aren\" width=\"360\" height=\"240\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7b\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Marlon Moraes (red gloves) walks to the Octagon before a bout against Jose Aldo (blue gloves) during UFC 245 at T-Mobile Arena. | USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7h\">That WSOF run included five successful defenses of the promotion\u2019s bantamweight belt, and in 2017 he and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/justin-gaethje-brutalizes-ilia-topuria-for-major-upset-in-ufc-white-house-main-event\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">fellow WSOF titleholder Justin Gaethje <\/a>both made the jump over to the UFC.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01m0zjwn0qg5mp7egqre.jpg\" alt=\"Justin Gaethje (blue gloves) prior to his fight against Ilia Topuria (not pictured) during the UFC Freedom 250 at the White H\" title=\"Justin Gaethje (blue gloves) prior to his fight against Ilia Topuria (not pictured) during the UFC Freedom 250 at the White H\" width=\"360\" height=\"240\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7t\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Justin Gaethje (blue gloves) prior to his fight against Ilia Topuria (not pictured) during the UFC Freedom 250 at the White House South Lawn. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7z\">After dropping his UFC debut to Raphael Assun\u00e7\u00e3o, Moraes won four-straight bouts to set up a fight for the vacant UFC bantamweight belt against Henry Cejudo, who stopped the Brazilian in the third round. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Magic Man&#8221; Looks to Snap Seven-Fight Streak of Knockout Losses<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"89\">Following a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/ufc-jose-aldo-confirms-retirement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">split decision win over UFC Hall of Famer Jos\u00e9 Aldo<\/a>, Moraes was knocked out in four-straight fights and ended up joining the PFL (formerly WSOF) in 2022 shortly after his final UFC loss to Song Yadong. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01m0zjxtab7pnn9498jr.jpg\" alt=\"Merab Dvalishvili lands a hit against Marlon Moraes during UFC 266 at T-Mobile Arena.\" title=\"Merab Dvalishvili lands a hit against Marlon Moraes during UFC 266 at T-Mobile Arena.\" width=\"360\" height=\"240\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"8l\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Merab Dvalishvili lands a hit against Marlon Moraes during UFC 266 at T-Mobile Arena. | USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8r\">\u201cMagic Man\u201d unfortunately also suffered stoppage-losses in all three of his PFL appearances, the most recent of which came in 2023 against his countryman Gabriel Braga.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01m0zjyr135d3snbsvgr.jpg\" alt=\"Marlon Moraes reacts following his loss against Merab Dvalishvili during UFC 266 at T-Mobile Arena.\" title=\"Marlon Moraes reacts following his loss against Merab Dvalishvili during UFC 266 at T-Mobile Arena.\" width=\"360\" height=\"240\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"93\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Marlon Moraes reacts following his loss against Merab Dvalishvili during UFC 266 at T-Mobile Arena. | USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-19\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"99\">Moraes met Ary Farias in a grappling match last year but will be fighting in MMA for the first time in over three years when he meets Perez, who is on a 1-4 run dating back to 2025 and was knocked out in the first round of his most recent outing in June. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" preventdefault:click=\"\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\" on:pointerenter=\"q-DTCrOQLE.js#s_1NOcOpHWmT0\" on:touchstart=\"q-D3-OLoLY.js#s_R8AiGTDeM28\" on:focus=\"q-C4mA4mzT.js#s_gxiTM6qMMu8\" on:click=\"q-DStfdTK6.js#s_lDqay9E5m5g[0]\" q:id=\"9f\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A decorated MMA veteran that previously fought for UFC gold will attempt to snap a seven-fight skid when&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-869387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}