It’ll be 679 days between UFC fights for Vince Morales, but he’s made it back.
Two-plus years, five fights and four finishes later, Morales (16-7 MMA, 3-5 UFC) has signed for a short-notice bout on Sept. 28 vs. Taylor Lapilus (20-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 243 in Paris.
“It’s a long time coming,” Morales told MMA Junkie on Friday. “I’m trying to take things in stride. I’m not really trying to push my narrative as I’m back, as much as I’m here now. I think it’s a different mindset and it’s a different skillset I’m going to be able to show that’s going to be turning heads a little bit differently than in the past.
“That’s because Vince Morales is a little more free now as a fighter. I’m just in there to fight fights, not to just win fights or not lose fights.”
Vince Morales hits a Peruvian Necktie to snatch the UFL bantamweight strap from Hunter Azure in the 3rd round. What a sub. BEAUTIFUL #UFL5 pic.twitter.com/VVWrhVAisJ
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) August 31, 2024
It’s a difficult feat to make the UFC. It’s even harder to make it twice, but Morales has done that. A modified Peruvian necktie submission over fellow UFC alum Hunter Azure pushed him over the finish line, attracting a call from matchmaker Sean Shelby.
Morales, 33, hopes to rebrand the specific sub-genre of Peruvian neckties “the Vinchuvian necktie,” something he thinks could be accomplished if he hits it in the UFC.
“A bunch of people sent me like four different variations that are all real similar,” Morales said. “There was the caveman necktie, the Gamburyan necktie, the Texas necktie, the Armenian necktie. It was a whole bunch of different things. Next thing, I was like, ‘I’m going to go look up and see who’s got them in competition.’ I found zero. I was like, ‘Cool, I get it. I call dibs.’ So I might have to hit it again in the UFC on a bigger stage.”
Flashy finishes aside, Morales knows he’s taking a step up – to a level he thinks is where he belongs. He’ll be the first to admit his eight-fight UFC tenure from 2018 to 2022 didn’t highlight his best abilities. He went 3-5 during that time.
But outside the promotion, he’s tweaked his mindset, which he pointed to as the main thing holding him back.
“(Being released from the UFC) didn’t really change the goals,” Morales said. “It just changed where I was doing them. I’m going out there to fight and beat people up. For now, I might have to be doing it elsewhere. But on the plus side, I can actually work some things in the gym in the fight. In the fights in the UFC, it’s hard to really develop, especially if you get in under 10 fights.
“We’re still kind of figuring out who we are and how we fight. I took that as opportunity to catch my breath and go work some things. I mixed in some wrestling. I tried to work some other areas in my game that I think needed to come out in the fight and not just the gym. The proof is in the pudding.”
