Joseph Morales Gets the Brandon Moreno Fight His Son Asked About

Years ago, Joseph Morales' son asked why his dad was not fighting Brandon Moreno. On Saturday at Noche UFC, Morales faces the former UFC flyweight champion, and the question finally gets an answer.

Morales got the call about the fight and then told his son in the car after picking him up from school. "He goes oh really, who against? I said Brandon Moreno, and he like looked at me like 'No way!'" Morales told Cageside Press on Wednesday. "He's excited for it," he added.

The boy has followed Moreno since he was little. Morales said his son was about four when he watched Moreno fight Deiveson Figueiredo after winning the belt, and asked why his father did not fight the champion. These days the boy has a prediction. "He tells me all the time, you're going to beat Brandon. You're the best," Morales said.

A second shot

For Morales, the matchup is also about proving that his road back to the UFC was no fluke. He still thinks about how close he came to missing this chance. "I'm not supposed to be here, I wasn't supposed to win the show," he said. Everyone he beat there got a contract, he added, and had he lost, "there's no way I was getting a contract."

That is why he does not take any of it for granted. "I take it like it's a championship fight every single time," Morales said.

Getting back to the UFC was only part of the goal. He wants to make this second run count. "I want to fight the best guys, I want to crack the top 10, I want to fight (for) the belt," he said.

He framed it as something he wants to prove to himself rather than to anyone else: "I deserve to be here, I belong here, and I'm one of the best flyweights."

Source: Cageside Press