Michael Morales is using UFC bonus money to build a family home in Ecuador — while building a perfect record in MMA

Yahoo

15-05-2025

As he was being introduced for his fight with Neil Magny in August, Michael Morales stood with his arms dangling, shaking those long limbs out as if trying to wake them up. Not quite five minutes later, when Magny had him tied up on the fence and was bleeding the clock out in the first round, Morales spun a sudden elbow into Magny's temple.
Magny hit the deck, and Morales coolly followed him down. From there it was an onslaught. He saddled high on Magny's back, slamming right hands into his cover until referee Dan Miragliotta took mercy on behalf of the sanctioning body.
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All of this was a snapshot of just how quickly fates can change when the undefeated Morales is in the Octagon. A fight that seemed destined to be an ugly slog turned into a signature victory for the 25-year-old, who was awarded bonus money for the demonstration.
It was his first bonus in the UFC, and all proceeds were redirected immediately to El Oro, Ecuador.
'We're remodeling my grandparents' house in Ecuador, where everybody's going to be living eventually,' Morales says. 'The whole family's going to move in there. My grandparents, my mom, and my brothers, all are going to live there — even my kids are going to live there. So, with the money, we've been able to make some significant changes there.'
The family compound that Morales is rebuilding is expanding at the rate of his victories. Through six UFC fights, including his Contender Series breakthrough against Nikolay Veretennikov when he was just 21 years old, he has been perfect. Three finishes, topped by his dispatching of Magny, and three definitive decisions, including a fairly dominant victory over Australia's Jake Matthews, have left him with a 17-0 record as a professional.
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Just what the welterweight division needs, another surging, undefeated fighter flying up the rungs in what might be the most stacked 170-pound class in UFC history. Morales is on the verge of breaking into the top 10, which could happen as soon as this weekend when he takes on a perennial fixture in that group, Gilbert Burns.
It will be Morales's fourth straight fight at the UFC Apex, but the first time he's been the main event.
'I'm very happy, and I'm not going to waste this main event,' Morales says. 'I wasn't surprised. We're talking about Gilbert Burns. We're talking about an experienced fighter and now we have to just make the most out of the opportunity.'
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Morales carries all the hallmarks. He has the youthful sheen of invincibility, still fully intact. He's been chirping at Ian Garry, which at present is highly in vogue — a rite of passage, one might say. He has the pink hair (for this weekend, anyway), the painted nails, the earrings, and a daredevil's sense of adventure. He still lives by the simple Zen adage, 'leap and the net will appear.'
Or, in his case, a parachute will open.
'Me and my boys did some skydiving recently,' he says, when asked about his passions outside of fighting. 'I love motorcycles and cars, as well. I like to be on the streets, man. But family is what I like the most. If I'm not not training or fighting, being with family is what I like most. But I do like to do some crazy things, too.'
One of the leaps Morales took was relocating from his home in Pasaje to Tijuana, Mexico, to pursue his fight career in 2021. He says he won't return to live at home until his career is over, but he still carries the Ecuadorian flag to the cage with him. His mother, Katty Hurtado, is a third dan judo black belt back in Ecuador. She was the unwitting gateway for Morales' career in martial arts.
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Morales began with judo at just five years old, which — as far off as that might seem — was only in 2005. It was the same year that Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin put on the slobberknocker in the TUF finale that crashed the UFC into American living rooms.
'She sees what I'm doing training, if I'm doing something well,' Morales says of his mom, 'But she also sees when I'm not doing something well, something that needs to improve. She's always there with the constructive criticism.'
It's a hell of a time to be making a move at 170 pounds. In front of Morales right now is a murderer's row of contenders, one of which is Morales's sometimes training partner and former champion, Belal Muhammad. There are names like Sean Brady, Shavkat Rakhmonov, Joaquin Buckley and Ian Garry lurking in these waters.
'I think this weekend is an opportunity to show people why welterweights are booming,' Morales says. 'I think it's a great division. I think it's a great thing, a beautiful thing to actually see a good welterweight — that some of us aren't just blossoming and exploding as welterweights, this new wave of talent, but also in mixed martial arts.'
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The division is also teeming with veterans. Yesterday's champions and contenders, who are holding down the fort. People like Leon Edwards, Kamaru Usman, and, of course, the 38-year-old Gilbert Burns
To make room for himself in that top space, Morales is going to have to overthrow the old guard.
'I think Gilbert's is tough,' he says. 'He's a guy who's durable, who's earned the respect of other fighters as well, and that why he's earned a spot. But I'll tell you what, I have also faced a lot of experienced fighters and I've been able to learn from all those fights and make the most out of my opportunities as well, in becoming a better fighter myself, and evolving.'
The new guard puts his hands through his pink hair as he chooses his words. There's a house being modified and expanded in Ecuador with his name on it, and Morales is looking to add many rooms.
'I think that the best way to actually honor [Gilbert] is to give him the respect that he deserves as a fighter,' he says. 'And that is to do what I always do, which is give my all. To actually give him a great fight. That's the way that you show respect for a fighter like him, and he deserves that from me as well.'