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Vince Morales | Ready For Uphill Battle
Vince Morales Is Confident About A Quick Turnaround And Aims To Leave The Judges Out Of His Bout This Weekend At UFC Mexico: Moreno vs Erceg
Vince Morales isn’t one to sweat the small stuff, or even the big stuff, like dropping a hotly contested decision to Elijah Smith last month in Las Vegas. So when he was asked about making a quick turnaround to fight Raul Rosas Jr. in Mexico City on Saturday, he took the “fighting solves everything” approach.
“I wasn't very happy with the way the last one turned out and my body, regardless of how my face looked, was feeling way different. It just didn't feel like I'd been in a fight, which is crazy because my face looked like dog s**t,” laughed Morales, who dealt with a cut on his nose for much of the final round.
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That cut was bad, but it didn’t sting as much as the razor-close decision, which read 29-28 across the board for Smith, a recent graduate of Dana White’s Contender Series. That made it two losses in two fights for Morales since returning to the UFC last September. It’s been frustrating for the 34-year-old, who admits to wondering what he needs to do to get the win when a finish doesn’t happen.
“I had some family and some friends come to town and we set up a little viewing party for the rest of the fights at Iridium's gym right next to the PI,” he said. “And I went there and one of my managers was there and I'm like, ‘Dude, here we are again. What am I doing wrong?’ And it's hard to pinpoint one thing when it is close like that, so a lot of it is just some of the optics, some of the way some of the stuff is viewed.”
As we’ve seen for years, some judges score blood and damage, and not necessarily what else is going on in a final round that, on this night, all three Octagonside arbiters scored for Smith.
“I think the blood had a big thing in it, but I think the common theme was the optics,” said Morales. “Some of the other fights, maybe I was trying to pick too many clean shots on the end and backing up too much. So the optics on that one look bad. So optics became the theme and that's one thing we've adjusted is constantly trying to get something in somebody's face. That way the judges can see what I see and what I can feel a little bit better.”
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It's a classy approach, one that Morales has been known for throughout his career. He’s lost close decisions before, and he even got cut from the promotion in early 2023. His response? He went back to the gym, got better, and ran off a five-fight winning streak with four finishes that landed him back in the UFC. Now, he’s staying true to himself and is confident that adjustments and work with his squad at Syndicate MMA will get him back on track.
“It's so difficult,” he chuckles. “For instance, if I were to get too defensive about it and establish some sort of like, well, this is why I lost, it'll become, oh, he's making excuses. He can't accept the loss. He's never going to get better from here, yada, yada, all this stuff. And I've been the gracious loser, where I'm like, okay, well I get it, I'll just get better. I'll take some notes from this. And I think, mentally, that’s the best way to go about it. But it's hard when other people are putting their two cents in, and this goes from family and friends, where it’s, oh, you won that, but X, Y, and Z or these judges. So again, that's another reason that I was telling my managers, just get me back in there. I got to go fight. The one thing I know how to do is fight. I may not win all the time, but I can get out there and go fight.”
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And if Morales has his way, he’s leaving the judges out of it in Mexico City.
“I'm only focused on trying to finish this kid,” he said. “He hasn't even been finished in his single loss, and I think that's the main thing that's going to set me apart from the pack. I got to get out there and finish this dude.”
That’s not bravado from Morales, but it’s confidence from watching the 20-year-old phenom in action with his coaches and coming up with a plan they believe will end with a W.
“When we were sitting down, breaking down some film and stuff, you can kind of see he makes some, ‘I haven't been through that sort of adversity yet’ mistakes, and I think that's where we can capitalize.”
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If all else fails, he can just think back to what his cousin, fellow UFC standout Ricky Simon, told him after snapping a three-fight losing streak with a blistering knockout of Javid Basharat last month.
“He told me that his confidence never waned just because he was on a losing streak,” said Morales. “He was confident in his ability to compete and beat the best guys in the world and Iwas literally thinking the same thing about myself. And that made me double down on my feelings and confidence in my own abilities.”
UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs Erceg took place live from Arena CDMX in Mexico City on March 29, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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