Preview: UFC Fight Night 183 Main Card

Bantamweights

#3 BW | Marlon Moraes (23-7-1, 5-3 UFC) vs. #11 BW | Rob Font (17-4, 7-3 UFC)

ODDS: Moraes (-145), Font (+125)

Moraes suddenly finds himself as the odd man out in the bantamweight division. After running shop in the World Series of Fighting, expectations were high that the Brazilian could make a quick impact upon making his way to the UFC. A close loss to Raphael Assuncao dampened those plans, but only temporarily, as Moraes quickly rebounded with a four-fight winning streak—it included avenging his loss to Assuncao—that put him directly in the bantamweight title mix. That led Moraes to a fight for the vacant title against Henry Cejudo, at which point a narrative formed that has nagged him ever since. He picked apart Cejudo at will until the Olympic gold medalist realized he had the durability to just charge forward, absorb damage and eventually wear out Moraes. That has been the blueprint for opponents since, starting with Jose Aldo, who got their fight to a split decision almost entirely on pressure and durability. Despite coming out with the win, Moraes did not seem to gain much momentum and was basically frozen out of the title picture. A fight against current champion Petr Yan was scrapped thanks to the pandemic, and Aldo was actually the one who faced the Russian once it came time to have a fight for the vacant belt. Instead, Moraes was matched with Cory Sandhagen, and while Sandhagen’s combination of size and aggression figured to be stylistic poison for the Brazilian, it was still stunning to see him drop a one-sided loss to a much less proven prospect. Moraes has gone from one of the consensus best bantamweights in the world to an afterthought in 2020, so a win against Font would certainly help right the ship.

Font has consistently been a breakout candidate during his six-plus years on the UFC roster, but the Bostonian has not gotten much momentum going during that time, mostly thanks to injuries and inactivity. Font can bring some beautiful violence when his game clicks on all cylinders, as his hard-charging boxing skills bring a tremendous amount of power to the table. However, for every standout performance on his way up the ladder, there seems to be a disappointing setback against a better level of competition. Faced with other hard hitters like John Lineker, Pedro Munhoz and even Raphael Assuncao, Font has always been the guy that eventually cedes control of the fight; and without his aggression, Font’s game is nowhere near as effective. His win over Ricky Simon, now slightly over a year ago, finally showed some progress in that regard. Simon is an absolute wildman, and Font was content to slug it out with him every step of the way. Now it is time to prove those gains are real against Moraes.

This is a relatively simple dynamic. Font is going to charge forward while Moraes looks to counter him with violent bursts of offense. The question is how both fighters—mostly Font—react after the first few exchanges. If Font retains some consistency to his aggression, he can make a lot of hay, but any slack off the gas pedal will give the Brazilian a chance to start gaining momentum. Moraes presents much more danger in individual blitzes than Simon, and Font is still only three fights removed from a loss to Assuncao, who provides a similar challenge in terms of hitting extremely hard off the counter. The size might be an issue for Moraes, and this is by far Font’s biggest and best chance to get a career-defining win, but the Mark DellaGrotte disciple is still at the point where he has to prove he can overcome this type of challenge. The pick is Moraes via decision.

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