33 year old UFC veteran Marlon Moraes announces retirement

Ezra Samuel

UFC bantamweight contender Marlon Moraes recently announced that he won’t be competing inside the octagon anymore. The Brazilian retired at a young age- at 33 years old.

Marlon Moraes’ manager Ali Abdelaziz sent a statement to MMA Fighting regarding this announcement. ‘Magic’ thanked many figures and several teammates in the UFC for always supporting him on his journey.

“I want to thank everyone. Sean Shelby, Dana White and the UFC for giving me so many opportunities. I wanna thank my family, my coaches, my manager, everybody who has been around and been part of my career. I want to say thank you to Mark Henry, Ricardo Almeida, Frankie Edgar, Anderson Franca and Hunter Campbell.” Moraes said.

Like many MMA retirees, Marlon Moraes will still be involved with mixed martial arts. He said he will be around to help young fighters.

“I’m still gonna be around the sport helping young guys and helping my friends.” Moraes added.

Marlon Moraes started to compete in professional MMA in 2007 at the age of 19 years old. He appeared in various promotions but mostly within WSOF and the UFC. From 2007 until 2010 he also competed in Muay Thai & kickboxing.

Marlon Moraes just suffered a devastating loss from Song Yadong in March. For Moraes, a lot was at stake. In spite of knowing what was at stake – Moraes came up short in the very first round.

“In the UFC, your first fight could be your last, and your last fight could be your first, so you never know,” Moraes said vefore the fight. “It’s up to your performance. You have to go there and put on a show. Win or lose, you have to leave the crowd on their feet and be someone they like to watch.”

In 2014, he won the WSOF bantamweight championship and defended it five times. Moraes eventually joined the UFC in 2017. He competed against the likes of Henry Cejudo, Jose Aldo, Rob Font, and Aljamain Sterling. Unfortunately, his recent performance was pretty bad. Moraes suffered four consecutive losses in his last four fights. Not to mention that all four of them ended with Moraes knocked out on the canvas.

Marlon Moraes professional record stands at 23 wins, 10 losses, and 1 draw. With 10 knockouts and 6 submission victories.