Thiago Moises missed Christmas and New Yr’s Eve’s banquets within the ultimate weeks of his camp for UFC Vegas 101, so it’s solely honest that he seeks a stoppage victory on Jan. 11 to make all of it value it.
Moises advised MMA Preventing he was initially provided a battle with Trey Ogden in November, however the former Fury FC champion couldn’t take it. The match was in the end pushed again for the primary half of January, kicking off the 2025 calendar for the UFC.
“I requested for an additional opponent [in November] after which tried to get [Ogden] to battle in December, however I don’t know why Trey couldn’t both,” Moises mentioned. “I’d a lot relatively battle in November or December so I may take pleasure in Christmas and New Years’ Eve, however they ended up reserving this for January.”
As a substitute of gaining a number of kilos whereas celebrating Christmas together with his household in Florida, Moises was beginning the method to chop all the way down to 155 kilos. He spent the previous few days watching meals programing on TV, and gained’t eat a lot till he hits the light-weight mark Friday morning in Las Vegas.
“I believe it might be approach higher if we weren’t chopping weight, if we simply went there and fought, and we’d have the ability to battle much more usually and the fights can be higher,” Moises mentioned. “That’s the onerous half that we gotta do, however it’s a part of the job. [But] I believe my weight class is light-weight, I’m too small for [welterweight].”
The American High Crew product is struggling to place a win streak collectively since future champion Islam Makhachev snapped his three-fight run in 2021 in a fundamental occasion conflict on the UFC APEX, and now focuses on getting again on the profitable column following a defeat to Ludovit Klein in June.
Ogden is on a roll within the UFC regardless of having his dominating displaying over Nikolas Motta prematurely — and bizarrely — stopped by the referee, costing what can be the primary of three victories in a row. He entered the cage twice in 2024 to beat Kurt Holobaugh and Loik Radzhabov by way of determination.
“Despite the fact that he’s not very recognized but, I see he’s very robust and has good qualities,” Moises mentioned. “He has nice grappling and good timing together with his takedowns. You must respect that. I’ve educated onerous and I’m taking him very critically as a result of there are issues he does with excellence.”
Ogden has by no means been stopped with strikes in 25 skilled MMA bouts, and Moises’s 18-8 data contains solely 4 knockouts. That mentioned, Moises sees openings for a stoppage on the UFC APEX.
“I see myself profitable this battle by knockout,” Moises mentioned. “He has a number of holes within the putting, and we’ve educated onerous to discover these holes on this battle.”
