The grudge match between perennial bantamweight contenders Jimmie Rivera and Marlon Moraes took place in the headliner of last night’s UFC Fight Night 131 event in Utica, New York.
The highly anticipated Rivera vs. Moraes showdown lasted less than sixty seconds, this after Marlon landed a clean head kick just moments into the opening round that sent Jimmie crashing to the octagon canvas.
Moraes would immediately pounce on Rivera delivering some solid ground and pound which prompted the referee to step in and call a stop to the contest.
The loss snapped a sensational twenty-fight win streak for Jimmie Rivera who was all class in defeat.
Despite having a war of words with Moraes at a recent UFC press conference, Rivera insisted that his grudge was not with Marlon but instead his manager Ali Abdelaziz. Ali had apparently used a derogatory term to describe Jimmie’s wife on multiple occasions in the lead up to the fight which clearly fueled the rivalry between camps.
Following the conclusion of last night’s main event Ali attempted to smooth things over with the Rivera camp by sending out the following message on Twitter.
Nothing but respect for Jimmy Rivera and his family. Without a doubt one of the best fighters in the world. Keep your head up champ. You’ll be back stronger.
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) June 2, 2018
“Nothing but respect for Jimmy Rivera and his family. Without a doubt one of the best fighters in the world. Keep your head up champ. You’ll be back stronger.” -Ali
Despite Ali’s social media outreach, the bad blood between fight camps once again spilled over backstage following the conclusion of last night’s event.
Check out the video below where it appears that Jimmie Rivera’s wife and Ali Abdelaziz exchange heated words before eventually being separated.
No excuses here, Jimmie Rivera's just lookin' to bounce back asap. pic.twitter.com/0kDA3GNIJL
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) June 2, 2018
What do you think of last night’s post-fight altercation? Sound off PENN Nation!