Marlon Moraes won the World Series of Fighting bantamweight title earlier this year and it was expected that he would meet the winner of this past weekend’s bout between Cody Bollinger and Pablo Alfonso.
Bollinger ended up defeating Alfonso by submission in the first round by he told TheMMAReport.com following the fight card that he is moving up to the featherweight division.
With Bollinger moving out of the bantamweight division, what does this mean for Moraes and who he will make his next title defense?
According to World Series of Fighting Vice President and Matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz, he is having trouble finding someone to face Moraes.
“We have a lot of 135’ers. We have Josh Hill. We have a lot of other guys that can get the title,” Abdel-Aziz told TheMMAReport.com following World Series of Fighting 11 on Saturday. “To be honest with you, I am having a hard time finding guys — nobody wants to fight Marlon. He is one of the best 135 pounders in the world and me and Ray [Sefo] are always talking about who is next. Marlon was tweeting me and saying let me get Cody Bollinger but Bollinger told Ray that he is going to 145 and this is what he do.”
Hill was the only fighter that Abdel-Aziz mentioned by name but this does not mean that someone else could not be next for Moraes. Hill is an undefeated fighter and made his World Series of Fighting debut last month as he scored a first round knockout against Mike Adams.
On the surface, it would seem to make sense to have Hill face Moraes for the title, but he will have to wait and see what Sefo and Abdel-Aziz decide to do.