Brendan
Loughnane
has no issue with double dipping.
The Manchester Predators ace will open defense of his
Professional Fighters League featherweight title when he kicks
off his 2023 campaign against former
World Series of Fighting champion
Marlon
Moraes in the
PFL 1 headliner on Saturday at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in
Las Vegas. Loughnane enters the cage on the heels of four straight
wins. He last appeared at the 2022 PFL Championships, where he cut
down
Bubba
Jenkins with punches and a follow-up knee strike in their Nov.
25 featherweight final, then walked away with the $1 million grand
prize. Moraes, meanwhile, finds himself in a five-fight tailspin
that spans more than three years. The
American Top Team export has not visited victory lane since he
eked out a contentious split decision over two-time
Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder
Jose Aldo at
UFC 245 on Dec. 14, 2019.
As Loughnane and Moraes move ever closer to their forthcoming
battle at 145 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have
accompanied them to this point:
33: Years of age for Loughnane, who was born in Manchester,
England, on Dec. 5, 1989.
13: Loughnane victories by knockout or technical knockout,
accounting for 52% of his career total (25). Jenkins,
Mike
Wilkinson and
David Lee
anchor his list of victims. Loughnane owns one other victory by
submission (4%)—he dispatched
Danny Welsh
with a rear-naked choke at an Ultimate Cage Championships show in
April 2012—and 11 more by decision (44%).
55: Rounds completed by Loughnane as a professional mixed martial
artist. He has gone the distance on 15 different occasions and
carries an 11-4 record in those bouts.
7: First-round finishes on the Loughnane resume. They are
highlighted by his 51-second rout of
Dave
Straughton at Cage Conflict 8, where he struck his fellow Brit
into submission on Feb. 26, 2011.
.714: Cumulative winning percentage between the four
opponents—Wilkinson,
Movlid
Khaybulaev,
Pat Healy and
Tom
Duquesnoy—who have defeated Loughnane. They sport a combined
record of 78-31-1.
34: Years of age for Moraes, who was born on April 26, 1988 in Nova
Friburgo, Brazil.
6: Moraes wins by submission, accounting for 26% of his career
total (23). His methods of choice: four rear-naked chokes, one
guillotine choke and one keylock. Moraes holds 10 other wins by
knockout or technical knockout (43%) and seven more by decision
(31%).
32: Seconds needed for Moraes to punch out
Carson
Beebe under the World Series of Fighting banner on Oct. 26,
2013. More than nine years later, it remains his fastest finish to
date.
16: Consecutive calendar years in which Moraes has fought at least
once. He went 1-0 in 2007, 1-2 in 2008, 1-0 in 2009, 1-0-1 in 2010,
2-2 in 2011, 2-0 in 2012, 3-0 in 2013, 2-0 in 2014, 2-0 in 2015,
3-0 in 2016, 2-1 in 2017, 1-0 in 2018, 2-1 in 2019, 0-2 in 2020,
0-1 in 2021 and 0-2 in 2022.
183: Combined victories between the 11 opponents—Moraes,
Yadong
Song,
Merab
Dvalishvili,
Rob Font,
Cory
Sandhagen,
Henry
Cejudo,
Raphael
Assuncao,
Deividas
Taurosevicius,
Ralph
Acosta,
Zeilton
Rodrigues and
Alexandre
Pinheiro—who have beaten “Magic Marlon.” They boast a
cumulative .731 winning percentage at 183-67-1.