**This story was updated with new information from Tapology restoring Morales’ undefeated record**
Is UFC welterweight contender Michael Morales actually undefeated in professional MMA competition? It depends who you ask, it seems.
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Morales has shot up the UFC rankings and into the title picture after a dominant run of finishes against Sean Brady, Gilbert Burns and Neil Magny in the first round of consecutive fights.
Morales currently finds himself near the forefront of the conversation about who could challenge reigning 170-pound champion Islam Makhachev, and much of that hype is tied to him having a perfect record, which moved to 19-0 after he beat Brady this past November at UFC 322.
But not so fast.
On Tuesday, noted MMA and combat sports database Tapology issued a statement noting that it will no longer consider Morales undefeated after reviewing tape from a July 2017 event under the Ecuador-based Ultima Pelea banner, where Morales was submitted with a triangle choke in 36 seconds by Ricardo Centeno.
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Although the fight was part of a reality show in the same vain as the UFC’s “The Ultimate Fighter,” and while it was previously considered to feature two-round exhibitions, Tapology said it deemed the fights to be professional bouts based on its review. Tapology changed Morales’ record to 20-1 based on the one loss and one victory from the show.
The process of Tapology was countered by Sherdog, which is MMA’s longest running record-keeping database. Sherdog said it reviewed the same fights as Tapology two years prior and came to the conclusion those fights were exhibitions, therefore leaving them off Morales’ record.
As Tapology noted, it is an independent MMA database with the right to determine how it wants to present records. Longtime MMA journalist John Morgan noted on X that the change is unlikely to affect Morales’ record presented by the Association of Boxing Commissions, which goes off another entity, Combat Registry. The twist, however, is that platform also has a record that differs from others.
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Morales doesn’t appear pleased with the discrepancies. He reacted on social media and told Tapology what he thinks of its decision (via Instagram).
“F*you, Tapology,” he wrote.
Additionally, one of the promoters of the event where Morales lost, supported the stance of Sherdog that the bouts in question weren’t pro fights (via X):
UPDATE: On Wednesday, Tapology reversed its decision on Morales record and explained the thinking behind its process in initially logging the fight as professional (via X):
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: MMA record keepers align on Michael Morales being unbeaten after dispute
