INSANE flying knee from @ChicanoJohn! #UFCGlendale pic.twitter.com/73ERlEVDsD
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2018
John Moraga has extended his winning streak to three with his latest decision victory over Wilson Reis in the flyweight division on Saturday at UFC on Fox 29.
While Moraga came out the winner, it did come at a cost as he suffered multiple injuries during the bout. The worst of them happened as Moraga’s face slid down the cage fence, which acted as a cheese grater tearing a chunk of flesh from his forehead.
Moraga spoke about his injuries after the fight during the post-fight interview (quotes courtesy of MMAJunkie.com)
“The cage got me pretty good,” he said after the bout. “It took a chunk out of my forehead.”
How many stitches did it require to sew up?
“You can’t stitch it,” he said. “It’s a big chunk, a big hole.”
The win for Moraga ensured his next foe would be a high-ranked opponent as he edges closer to another title shot. Moraga is not known as a trash talker in the knuckle game and doesn’t call out fighters at the end of a bout. He has however taken exception to one particular fighter in Sergio Pettis.
Moraga previously faced Pettis back in January, where he lost via unanimous decision. At the time, Moraga was recovering from a serious elbow injury and accepted to fight Pettis on just 18 days’ notice due to the event being in his native Arizona.
Moraga was hoping the roles could have been reversed this year so Pettis would have been the one who was forced to step in as a late replacement to fight him just like Moraga did when they first met.
“He keeps posting highlights and sh-t (of our first fight),” Moraga said. “I see that sh-t. What’s up, Sergio? Let’s do this again.
“Let me get some time while you jump in on short notice with me, because most of these people couldn’t have done that. So that gets me a little bit boiling when I see that. I don’t like to make excuses or anything, but there was no preparation for that last Phoenix fight. I had nothing. I came in here, and I was tired. But I went through three rounds with one of the best off no training.”
After the weekend’s victory over Reis, a rematch with Pettis is certainly a possibility.
As of now, Moraga is focusing on making another title run against flyweight king Demetrius Johnson. The two met back in 2013, with “Mighty Mouse” winning by armbar. In that title fight, Moraga earned a measly $17,000 for his part and highlighted just how low fighters can be compensated regardless of the magnitude of the fight. Moraga is now just focusing on building his image up inside the Octagon so the pay checks keep increasing.
“I’m not worried about getting a (Johnson rematch) until I can have my stock built to get paid like I’m getting the shot,” he said.