Michael Morales may not have expected the kind of early finish that he registered against a seasoned veteran and former title challenger, Gilbert Burns. The fight lasted just over three minutes as Morales shut down Gilbert Burns with some heavy strikes to seal the win. It’s a pretty big win for the Ecuadorian up-and-comer, since he became the second fighter to hand ‘Durinho’ a first-round knockout loss after Dan Hooker, as the 25-year-old claimed that he had prepared for the fight to end this way.

When someone registers a knockout like Michael Morales has, there’s always the question of whether it was a lucky punch. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case for Morales, who claims to have spent a lot of time in camp reviewing Burns and his tendencies inside the Octagon. The undefeated star appears to have learned, while watching footage of ‘Durinho’s past fights, that the Brazilian veteran often gets himself in troubling situations when backed against the fence.

When pressured, Michael Morales also noticed that Gilbert Burns tends to throw haymakers at his opponents, which, for the Ecuadorian, meant taking advantage of the space. That’s exactly what the 25-year-old focused on training, which is ‘counter-attacking’, and it paid way better than he imagined it out. “We talked about this in camp,” Morales stated in the post-fight presser.

“It was actually a big focus of our camps on the reaction that he has when he gets hit. And we know what he does when he’s backed up against the fence, and you actually have him kind of corralled,” Michael Morales added.

“What he does is he’s going to go for that overhand, and we know that was coming. So, we knew that, by pressuring him, that was coming, and I knew I needed to counterattack. So, might as well not let that happen,” the undefeated 170-pounder added.

After Gilbert Burns, Michael Morales is gunning for a title reign in the near future. But before that, he’s made his decision clear about whom he wants to fight next. And guess what? His ask is a significant step up in competition. Here’s what the 25-year-old had to say.

Michael Morales has expressed wanting to fight Ian Garry

With the third-longest active winning streak in the welterweight division, Michael Morales set his sights on Ian Garry. The Irishman recently defeated Carlos Prates, and now he has found himself inching closer to the strap. Acknowledging that, Morales mentioned that even if he wants to fight Garry, that may not happen anytime soon. Nevertheless, he wants to return at 100 percent when the UFC visits Guadalajara for UFC 320.

“Yeah, I’ve talked about Ian Garry. That’s a fighter that I’ve always wanted to fight. But I know that he’s won his last fight, so he’s looking up in the rankings right there. So, that might not happen,” Michael Morales stated in the post-fight press conference. “But, I said, you know, the fight that I would really like to make, the biggest thing, is just being healthy and kind of recovering from a couple of strikes that I had and I took, to be in Guadalajara.”

Well, Morales has surely impressed Dana White with his explosive performance at UFC Vegas 106, and we can expect to see him taking tougher and tougher fights in the future. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen if he can maintain his winning ways and remain undefeated in the promotion. What are your thoughts on Morales’ win over Gilbert Burns? Drop your comments below.