This is a fascinating fight.

Trevin Giles is an established UFC vet, first debuting in the UFC at 205 in 2017! He has spent the rest of his UFC career at 185 and has posted a respectable overall record of 5 – 3 in the octagon. Trevin will be looking for a fresh start in a new division making his debut at 170, which seems like a good move for him. Trevin is a very solid fighter; he is a good example of the depth the UFC roster has to offer. Trevin is one of those guys that would probably compete for titles in every other organization, while in the UFC, he has troubles getting ranked. He is good – and a great litmus test for a UFC newcomer with some hype and potential..

Which brings us to his opponent. The 22-year-old Michael Morales.
Outside of the two title fights, he is the fighter I am the most curious to see perform. It isn’t often a fighter this young gets a shot in the UFC. The fact that he is even here speaks volumes to his abilities. But my goodness – this kid looks to be a serious athlete.

MMA is one of the few sports in the world where you can have superior technique and be considered one of the best in the world, without being a world class athlete. Which is wild, because the other sports where this is also true, typically involve the use of some sort of a “tool”. A golf club, race car, etc.

But this is changing fast in MMA. If it hasn’t already. To hold a title in the UFC, you will probably also need to be a legitimate world class athlete. Think about the fighters at the top of the sport. Olympic gold medalists, national champions. So, when you’re considering how far a prospect can go, their pure natural athleticism needs to be taken into serious consideration.

And Michael Morales looks to have all the makings of a high quality athlete. When you get athletes like this training martial arts early, they can be scary. He has been doing martial arts his whole life, and has even spent time at the Olympic training center.

Don’t get me wrong, Michael Morales also has tons of technical skills. The DWCS alum and Brandon Moreno training partner is capable any where the fight goes. He can counter strike and pick his shots. He will out grapple grapplers. But what he does best is wear guys down with his physicality. Then when you see him tie it all together – he will be tossing high quality professional fighters across the cage in the 15th minute of a fight.

The experience discrepancy in this fight is significant. Most of Michael Morales’ fights are against sub par regional competition. Whereas Giles debuted in the UFC before Morales even had his first amateur fight..

But if Michael Morales can go in there and make a statement against a guy like Trevin Giles? In his debut? At 22 years old!?

Look the f— out.
…Choo Choo..

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