ONE FC’s Zorobabel Moreira ready for challenge of clash with Roger Huerta

Zorobabel Moreira is one of the most exciting prospects in the lightweight division and the Brazilian is slowly but surely making his way through better and better opponents. First he became the first man in two years to beat Ferrid Kheder, then he outclassed TUF veteran Andy Wang and followed that up with a win over tough Japanese-Swiss fighter Felipe Enomoto.

He will make another step up on June 23 when he takes on Roger Huerta at ONE FC: Destiny of Warriors. The UFC and Bellator veteran might not be enjoying the best form of his career but he has been in there with the best in the business such as Clay Guida, Gray Maynard, Pat Curran and Eddie Alvarez and is still a force to be reckoned with.

A win over Huerta would really put Moreira on the map, particularly as he took the fight at less than three weeks notice after Phil Baroni was forced to withdraw following a surprise TKO loss to Chris Holland in Denver.

‘Zoro’ will be moving up to 170 pounds for this fight but, when spoken to about the bout by Fighters.com, had no concerns about taking a fight in the wrong weight class with less than three weeks preparation time, saying, “I think lightweight is better for me but I can fight welterweight if ONE FC need me to. It is not a problem for me. I don’t know much about my opponent although my coaches tell me he is tough and I know he is very famous and fought for UFC before.”

Huerta has a reputation for getting involved in fight of the nights and his wars with Guida and Leonard Garcia have gone down in UFC history.  However his reputation does not concern Moreira who claims never to have seen him fight.

“My coaches Chatri Sityodtong and Heath Sims will tell me everything I need to know so I don’t need to watch old fights, only training,” explained Moreira. “I trust them, I trust the whole team at Evolve MMA, it is the best place to train martial arts in the world and my team will help me and make sure I am ready for this fight.”

Moreira is one of four Evolve MMA fighters on the card along with Brian Choi, Leandro Issa and Mitch Chilson. He is also training alongside Rich Franklin who is preparing for his fight with Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147 on the same night.

According to the Brazilian having so many teammates training to compete on exactly the same date has made the camp even more competitive than normal.

“At Evolve MMA we train together every day so I am always ready to fight but when I have a fight we train even more hard. We all want to win, even when we roll together or spar together we push each other so hard and Chatri and Heath push us as well. Training is not easy but we know when it is time to fight we will be at our best,” explained an excited Moreira.

The lightweight division is probably ONE FC’s most competitive and is home to the likes of Eduard Folayang, Ole Laursen and Adam Kayoom as well as Moreira’s teammates Eddie Ng and Shinya Aoki.  There are plenty of big fights awaiting him but for the time being he only has eyes for Huerta,

“I saw the fight between Laursen and Folayang on ESPN and it was very good fight and I think maybe they will fight again. I don’t think about my opponents, I just let Chatri decide about things like that but for sure there are a lot of good fighters in ONE FC and I am ready to fight anyone. I am a fighter that is what I do,” the 29-year old admitted.

Make sure to tune in this Saturday to catch his fight when things air on PPV!

PHOTO CREDIT – ONE FC