Record: 12-2
Age: 28
Height: 5’8″
Weight: Flyweight
Birthplace: Texas
Next fight: Oct. 6 def. Peter Caballero (14-7) via TKO (punches) – Round 1 at Fury FC 97 in Houston (UFC Fight Pass)
The skinny: Paris Moran is 28 but has two decades’ worth of combat sports experience. At 6, his father put him taekwondo. He hated it – as he did most sports, but along came jiu-jitsu in 2007 and eventually things changed. His parents divorced, and Paris found jiu-jitsu classes as the perfect father-son bonding opportunity – an added bonus. Moran joined high school wrestling. Then came striking. He became a seven-time national champion in sanshou karate (wushu). Next scene, Moran was competing in Russia, China, Costa Rica, Taiwan – you name it.
Moran has been on the cusp of the UFC for a minute. He was seemingly one win away when he took on the other best flyweight in Texas: Joshua Van. He lost, but learned from the defeat. Since then, he’s been dead-set on racking up wins against legit opponents and getting finishes. This month, he got the emphatic lopsided finish he was seeking when he moved up a weight class to put away gritty veteran Peter Caballero in 31 seconds.
In his own words: “I want to let Mick know that 125 or 135, it doesn’t matter. I just need an opportunity. I need a chance to prove myself, so I’ll fight at 135. I’m not a small 135er. I train with 135ers. I’m just a huge 125er and that weight cut sucks, but I make it happen. So if an opportunity at 135 presents itself, I’ll take it and then go back to 125. That’s going to be the home.”
“… The main thing with the UFC and me, from what I’ve been told, is the finish rate. Mick pulled up my record and said, ‘Hey, he’s only finished..’ I don’t know how much it was. Like, four or five of my 11 wins. He’s like, ‘I need him to have more.’ So the goal was to get two more finishes and stay ready. My manager Lou (DiBono) told me, ‘You know, Paris, it’s just the lay of the land. It’s so unpredictable. People fill in on one day’s notice. But as of right now, it looks like they want you to have two more finishes. So let’s plan on two more finishes after Freddy.’”
“Just knowing that my time is coming and whenever it does come, it will just be that much sweeter. I just keep reminding myself of that. It’s nothing personal. It’s just about my fight and my fighting style, so I’ve just got to keep doing what I can to not make them say no, if that makes sense.”
