Marlon Moraes warns bantamweight division before UFC 212 - ‘My goal is the title and I’m going to get it’

Former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) bantamweight champion Marlon Moraes will make his Octagon debut tomorrow night (Sat., June 3, 2017) at UFC 212 live on pay-per-view (PPV) from inside the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when he takes on divisional staple Raphael Assuncao. Moraes signed with the promotion earlier this year and represents one of the very best 135-pound fighters in the world to never fight in UFC. As the 29-year-old aims to extend his 13-fight win streak at UFC 212, Moraes is confident that his fellow bantamweights are already taking notice.

“I think people are already avoiding me. It makes no sense to me because I’m outside the UFC rankings. After my fight with Raphael, it’s going to be great. I’m going to put on a performance and I don’t know what these guys are going to do,” Moraes told the Fight Society podcast. “It’s going to be a very good fight.

“I’m very, very excited to go out there and show to everybody that those people who have been saying things about me outside the UFC, now what? I’m here.”

Since 2014, Moraes has won six title fights in WSOF, including five successive defenses. While he’s going to have to win a few fights inside of the Octagon to push ahead of top bantamweight contenders like Dominick Cruz and T.J. Dillashaw, Moraes is going to do everything in his power to fight for UFC gold.

“This is my goal — my goal is the title,” Moraes said. “I want to get there and I’m going to fight however many times that they want. I’m not going to choose opponents. I’m going to fight. My goal is the title and I know I’m going to get it.”

After Moraes trades leather with Assuncao on the preliminary portion of UFC 212, current UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo will meet interim king Max Holloway in a main event title unification bout.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 212 fight card, starting with the Fight Pass "Prelims" matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.