“I was watching some video from Dana White, and he was like, ‘We always try to open up the prelims with a fun fight,’ and then we got the opening prelim spot, which is pretty cool,” began Morono, who carries a 24-11 record with one no contest into this weekend’s clash with Leal. “I’m excited for this one. I feel like I have to represent the UFC more than normal, especially with him coming out of the PFL, but this is a good fight; it’s a tough fight too.
“He’s new to the UFC, but he’s got a lot of experience, which you don’t see that often,” he said of Leal, who landed on the wrong side of the scorecards in a debated decision loss to Rinat Fakhretdinov last time out in his promotional debut. “This will be a good, fun fight; he’s a kickboxer by trade, as am I, so I think there will be some good exchanges on the feet.
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“He’s a durable, hard-nosed striker, so you know me — I’m gonna move my feet around and try to bomb right hands,” Morono added, grinning. “I think this will be a fun fight. I fought a lot of guys like him in the UFC before.”
Ideally, that experience — both against comparable opponents and the many more trips he’s made into the Octagon — help swing things in his favor, and he can show the UFC sophomore Leal that things are a little different when you get into the shark-infested waters surrounding the Top 15 in the welterweight division.
