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By Rich Hansen, MMA Torch Columnist
Marlon Moraes took his World Series of Fighting Bantamweight Championship into hostile territory on Thursday night as he defended his title in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada against the undefeated Canadian Josh Hill. After five rounds of fighting in the main event of the World Series of Fighting 18 event, Moraes had his hand raised in triumph after defeating the game Canadian by unanimous decision.
Hill came out strong, rocking the champion with a first round uppercut that likely broke Moraes’ nose. Hill was unable to capitalize on the success he realized in the first round as Moraes methodically controlled the last four rounds of the five round championship fight.
The evening’s main event was fought entirely on the feet until a conservative Moraes landed a takedown in the last minute and a half of the fight. Hill took advantage of the time on his back by landing his most effective offense of the fight since the first round. It wasn’t enough to take the fifth, and ultimately it wasn’t enough to bring the championship home to Canada.
Moraes’ victory was his first successful defense of his championship. After defeating Josh Reddinghose at World Series of Fighting 9 to become the promotion’s bantamweight champion, Moraes’ scheduled first title defense against Cody Bollinger was officially declared a catchweight fight when Billinger missed weight.
With the victory on Thursday night Moraes’ record improved to 14-4-1 (7-0 WSOF). The loss for Hill was the first of his professional career, dropping him to 10-1 (1-1 WSOF). The next World Series of fighting event is scheduled for Saturday March 28 and features a main event between lightweight champion Justin Gaethje and challenger Luis Palomino.
MAIN CARD RESULTS
Hakeem Dawodu defeated Tristan Johnson via TKO at 1:59 of round 3
Andrew McInnes defeated Cody McKenzie via DQ (intentional headbutt) at 4:57 of round one
Shane Campbell defeated Derek Boyle via TKO at :31 of round 3
Champion Marlon Moraes defeated Josh Hill via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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