How unimpressive was Maryna Moroz’s performance on Saturday? Stats and her bold request afterward (w/analysis)

By Cregen McMinn, MMATorch contributor

Maryna Moroz (photo credit © Joe Camporeale USA Today)

If you missed the first fight on the main card this part Saturday at UFC Fight Night 92, consider yourself lucky. In the opener, 115-pounder Maryna Moroz defeated Danielle Taylor by split-decision. What makes the fight remarkable is how remarkably bad Moroz’s striking was. The strawweight connected on under 7 percent of her 251 significant strike attempts.

To put that into perspective the current champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk landed 53 percent of her significant strikes (170 of 330) in her recent title defense against Claudia Gadelha. (FIGHT METRIC DATA LINK)

One might think Moroz would not want to challenge the champion until she improved her striking. Think again. After the fight she talked to MMAJunkie.com and said “My ultimate goal is to fight Joanna and get that belt. Or Carla Esparza since she was the first champion.” “Everything is possible.”

McMinn’s Analysis: To be fair, Moroz is 3-1 in the UFC and holds an increasingly impressive win over Joanne Calderwood. In addition to that her height and reach, 5-7 and 67 inches respectively, give her an advantageous frame for the weight class. But her fight on Saturday was especially horrid. During his live report of the fight, MMATorch’s own Rich Hansen concluded “Jon Anik called this slagfest of a fight an entertaining, tactical fight, which explains why Zuffa fought so hard for production control when they left Spike. It’s fights like this that make people stop watching MMA.”

Moroz is right about one thing, I never thought I’d see a fighter land 7 percent of their strikes and win. So yes, “everything is possible.”

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