Titan FC 59 goes down on Friday, February 29th from the Xtreme Action Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. With six fights scheduled on the main card, Titan FC is gearing up for an exciting card. A lot of eyes will be on a flyweight matchup between Desmond Moore and Cleveland McLean. This is Moore’s first fight since Titan FC 50 in 2018 where he came up short with a split decision loss to Wascar Cruz. Moore has his sights set on a big victory to kick off 2020 and to hopefully kick start a winning streak.
Time Off
Moore got his start in combat sports from wrestling in high school and college. That later transformed into throwing punches inside of a cage where he has a record of 6-4. This is Moore’s first MMA fight since June of 2018, but he did have a boxing fight in November of 2018. Moore spent most of 2019 coaching and growing his wrestling school.
“I was teaching the last few years and being on that schedule limited my training time with the rest of the pro athletes in the gym. Instead of rushing into a lot of fights like I was doing before, I just turned a lot of fights down or told promoters I wasn’t going to be ready because I need time to train.” Moore began to tell MMASucka.
“Over the summer while I was coaching an opportunity came up where I could work with a bunch of [wrestling] schools but not necessarily teach. That opened up my training schedule.”
The Fight
Originally Desmond Moore was scheduled to fight Christopher Daniel. However, Daniel had to pull out of the fight due to an injury. Now steps in Cleveland McLean, someone Moore has had his eye on in the past.
“They sent me a name and I looked everything up that I normally lookup and this guy wasn’t an actual flyweight. It wasn’t a fight I was comfortable with taking, against a guy who has never actually made the weight before.”
“They kept looking and they gave me another name in Cleveland Mclean, whose name has actually come across my desk a few times. But unfortunately, when it did before I wasn’t in a situation where I could train and put together a camp that would be needed. I guess you could say this is a fight that has been in the making for a while.”
Mclean has a record of 11-8 and he is making his promotional debut with Titan FC. He is coming off a knockout win in December at Global Legion FC 13 over Abdiel Velazquez. But that doesn’t worry Moore.
“I know he throws heavy. He is going to let his hands go. He is going to kick. Everything is going to come with the intention of hurting me. So for me, I will need to read the fight. I believe that I can strike with a lot of people and if that is not working out then I can take the fight to the ground.”
“I am just going to let my hands go. A lot of my other fights I have been hesitant I guess you could say to put things together.” Moore told MMASucka when asked what his gameplan for the fight would be.
The Future
This fight is at flyweight, which is nothing new for Moore however he is a natural strawweight and hopes he can fight as a strawweight in the future.
“Ideally for me, the end game is to get back to fighting 115lbs. The promotion that would best fit that would be One Championship. It would be ideal for me to get some fights, stay active and hopefully put some wins together to fight over in Asia.”
Moore is looking to put together a nice win streak in 2020 and he finished his interview with MMASucka with “I am looking to stop anyone that stands in front of me.”
If you want to keep up with Desmond Moore check out his social media. You can follow him here and his wrestling program here.
Titan FC 59 goes down on February 28th and can be streamed live on UFC Fight Pass or you can tune into MMASucka.com for live updates and results.
