UFc featherweight Omar Morales knows Venezuela has much more to give to MMA than what fans have been able to witness so far. Born in Caracas, Morales is a pioneer for his home country, as he’s one of the very few Venezuelans to have reached the pinnacle of the sport. Morales (10-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) is just the third Venezuelan-born fighter to set foot in the UFC octagon and one of two current active UFC fighters from the South American nation – Veronica Macedo being the other. It hasn’t been easy for Morales to carve out a path coming from Venezuela. And there’s a reason why he’s a trailblazer in a sport that many consider mainstream, at least in the U.S. “There’s good sportsmen, good athletes, but the economical situation that the country is going through just makes it harder and harder to be able to work on your craft and be able to leave and make your name known,” Morales told MMA Junkie in Spanish .