Alex
Morono could play the Rodney Dangerfield card if he so
desired.
The often-overlooked Texan
Will Hunt for
some respect as an underdog when he faces
Matthew
Semelsberger in the featured
UFC
277 welterweight prelim on Saturday at the American Airlines
Center in Dallas. Morono, 31, enters the cage on the strength of a
three-fight winning streak. He last appeared at UFC on ESPN 31,
where he boosted his
Ultimate Fighting Championship record to 10-4 with a unanimous
decision over
Mickey Gall
in their three-round clash on Dec. 4.
As Morono moves ever closer to his forthcoming battle with
Semelsberger at 170 pounds, here are five things you might not know
about him:
1. Well-rounded skills tip his spear.
Morono holds the rank of black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under
Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhaes, and he has put those techniques
into practice as a mixed martial artist. The Houston native has
delivered six of his 21 professional victories by submission: three
by armbar, two by guillotine choke and one by triangle choke.
Morono, also a black belt in taekwondo, has never been submitted in
his 29-fight career.
2. Known killers form his inner circle.
“The Great White” regularly operates out of the esteemed
Fortis
MMA camp in Texas, where he has trained alongside a host of
accomplished stablemates, from
Abdul
Razak Alhassan,
Damon
Jackson and
Diego
Ferreira to
Geoff Neal,
Ryan
Spann and
Alonzo
Menifield.
3. His portfolio features some gold.
Morono captured the Legacy Fighting Championship welterweight title
when he put away
Derrick
Krantz with a guillotine choke 4:29 into the first round of
their LFC 49 main event on Dec. 4, 2015. He made his Octagon debut
less than a month later, as he served as a short-notice fill-in for
Kelvin
Gastelum and eked out a split decision over
Kyle Noke at
UFC 195.
4. Consistency has been a hallmark.
The
Sayif
Saud protégé has never suffered back-to-back defeats, following
each of his seven losses with at least one victory. Moreno has
enjoyed four separate winning streaks spanning three fights or
more.
5. He places a premium on efficiency.
Morono’s resume features 11 first-round finishes, three of the
sub-minute variety. He dispatched
Jose Castro
with an armbar in 21 seconds under the Triple A Promotions banner
on Dec. 2, 2010, dismissed
Mark Garcia
with an armbar in 41 seconds at LFC 5 on Jan. 29, 2011 and punched
out
Larry
Hopkins in 44 seconds at a Fury Fighting Championship show on
Oct. 24, 2014.