With T.J. Dillashaw Booked, Marlon Moraes Wonders What’s Next

Marlon Moraes is getting frustrated with not being able to find his next opponent.

Moraes is coming off a first-round knockout victory over Jimmie Rivera. It only took “Magic” 33 seconds to finish “El Terror.” Moraes handed Rivera his first loss since 2008. While many expected Moraes to get a title opportunity, that isn’t in the cards right now.

Moraes recently appeared on ESPN’s Ariel Helwani MMA Show. He said that top bantamweights are avoiding him:

“I had the best fight of my life, biggest fight, main event. Then everybody was talking about a title shot. If Cody (Garbrandt) loses, Marlon you’re definitely getting the fight. And I didn’t get it. So what to do next? So we talked to UFC and I said, ‘Hey, I want to fight Dominick Cruz.’ It makes sense, he wants to fight for the belt and I want to fight for the belt. And he denied to fight me. I told UFC, ‘I’m not playing around,’ I don’t want to fight these crazy fights. I want to fight for the belt.’ I don’t even care about the money much. I want the fight that is going to put me right there. So I thought let’s fight Raphael and do a rematch. And he denied. He didn’t want to fight me as well.”

Dillashaw is set to challenge UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo for the 125-pound gold at UFC 233. Dillashaw hopes to become a two-division champion, but what happens after the bout remains to be seen.