CHICAGO \u2013 Joseph Morales met the media Wednesday ahead of his fight at UFC 319.<\/p>\n
Morales (12-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) meets Alibi Idiris (10-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in the Season 33 flyweight final of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Their fight takes place on the preliminary card at United Center in Chicago. At media day, Morales took questions from media members before his “TUF” finale fight.<\/p>\n
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Morales has a pretty distinct advantage as a “TUF” finalist compared to most others before him: He’s already been in the UFC. He’s done this before, the whole UFC fight week media thing. He knows what it’s like. He knows what to expect. His opponent, perhaps not so much.<\/p>\n
Morales had a 1-2 stint in the UFC in 2017-2018 \u2013 including a $50,000 bonus for his win over Roberto Sanchez. After a couple wins for Cage Warriors and Urijah Faber’s promotion, where he won the flyweight title in his lone appearance, he had a two-year layoff before he taped the show.<\/p>\n
“I feel like I never left,” Morales told MMA Junkie and other reporters at media day. “Everyone keeps saying I’m making my debut. Can you have two debuts? How does that work? It feels like a continuation from the first run, but it also feels like a new path of it. I get to prove myself in a different way this time.<\/p>\n
“I’m excited to be back. I think the biggest thing I can take from this time compared to last time is I’m enjoying this whole a lot more \u2013 enjoying the media, enjoying the photo shoot, the whole process. I feel like it’s a bigger deal. It’s more important \u2013 the little things are more important this time.”<\/p>\n
Check out Morales’ full media day interview in the video above.<\/p>\n