After sticking that other promotion with that ‘one that got away’ feeling, ex-UFC featherweight Shane Burgos was just about to make a dual PFL debut with/against former UFC bantamweight title challenger, Marlon Moraes, at PFL 10: 2022 Championships on November 25th. Unfortunately the injury bug had other ideas for ‘Hurricane’ Shane, and he was forced to withdraw from the bout. Luckily, the PFL matchmakers were able to keep Marlon on the card by pairing him up with a familiar face in Sheymon Moraes.
The first Moraes vs. Moraes matchup happened over seven-years ago at the WSOF 22: Palhares vs. Shields card. Marlon was the league’s 135-pound champ, and produced a third round rear-naked choke to successfully defend his title.
A lot has happened since then, including both fighters making respective runs in the UFC. Under that banner, Sheymon went 2-3 and ran into some sizable speed bumps like Zabit Magomedsharipov, Sodiq Yusuff, and Andre Fili. Despite those setbacks, Sheymon has won three off his last four fights with the PFL.
Marlon faced a higher overall level of competition, with just over twice as many fights there. He ended up going 5-6, besting the likes of Jose Aldo, Raphael Assuncao, and was the last man to defeat the current UFC bantamweight king, Aljamain Sterling. On the downside, Marlon has lost his last four fights, getting brutally stopped by Merab Dvalishvili, Yadong Song, and Cory Sandhagen, and Rob Font.
Now that their paths are crossing once again in the PFL, the mma gods have decided that it’s time for another installment Moraes vs. Moraes. There can only be one. What do you suspect will be different, if anything, from the first time they met?