Wilson Reis had some of the worst months of his life in 2018, and he’s using it as motivation for his UFC on FOX 29 fight against John Moraga.

A one-time flyweight title contender in the UFC, Reis was offered a fight with Moraga at the UFC Belem card in Brazil on Feb. 3, but having only five weeks to prepare was not enough for him.

Reis’ manager called again on Feb. 1, informing him that the UFC was interested in matching him up against Moraga in Glendale, on April 14. The Brazilian flyweight accepted the offer, but 24 hours later another phone call left him devastated.

On Feb. 2, Reis’ younger brother, 30-year-old Wagner Araujo, died in a motorcycle accident in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

”It was a really difficult experience,” Reis told MMA Fighting. “I used my training camp to get over this tough moment, and at the same time, move on with my life. Emotionally, I’m more motivated because my younger brother was one of the happiest and proud people when I signed with the UFC.

”I had a deal with my brother, ‘every time you have a new fight in the UFC, will you tell me first hand?’ After my coaches and manager, he was the first person to know about my fights. He always loved knowing about it.

”Unfortunately, the day after I told him about this fight, I was informed of his death. It’s difficult, but that motivated me a lot. This fight will be a homage to him, for sure.”

Wagner was married and had a one-year-old son, who has Reis as his godfather. The UFC fighter stayed in Brazil for two weeks to help his family, but kept training for his upcoming bout. He wasn’t sure if he would still fight Moraga on April 14, though.

”When I came back to California, I told my coaches that I was good to continue training,” Reis said. “This is a big motivation for me, a good distraction from everything that happened.”

Reis is coming off back-to-back losses for the first time since joining the UFC in 2013, at the hands of Cejudo and flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson, but his opponent is in a different time in his career.

Moraga has gone 5-4 since challenging Johnson for the belt in 2013, including a three-fight losing skid, but bounced back in 2017 with wins over Ashkan Mokhtarian and Magomed Bibulatov.

”Some training partners thought it wasn’t a good fight for me because I usually fight with top 5, better ranked fighters,” Reis said, “But I want someone good in order to move up in the rankings with a win. I’m focused. I know Moraga’s game really well. He’s on a roll, so that’s motivating. I like this match-up.”

Both Moraga and Reis are specialists in the grappling area, but Reis doesn’t expect his opponent to actually try to test his jiu-jitsu against him in Glendale.

”I think he will try to keep it standing,” Reis said. “Every time he fights he takes the fight to the ground, but always comes back up. He’s coming off two good performances standing, a good knockout against that Russian, and knowing that I always want to go to the ground, I believe he will try to keep it standing. He has knockout power.

”I know I have more chances to finish him taking him to the ground. I have good chances knocking him out standing as well, but it’s obvious that my best weapon is the ground game. I want to trade with him to knock him out, but if I can’t knock him out I will take him down.”