#10 ranked lightweight Renato Moicano wants to skip a few steps and challenge the winner of Islam Makhachev vs Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311 for the title. Moicano is coming off an impressive win over Benoit St-Denis and has been part of the roster for quite some time now. While he has yet to fight anyone in the top 5 yet, the Brazilian still believes his time has come.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Moicano stressed that if the UFC would ask him to fight someone like Dan Hooker or any other top 5 ranked fighter, he would take it. He doesn’t feel he has much choice in how things work within the UFC.
“I am pretty sure UFC knows what they are doing, especially letting me fight on the card… big card, huge card, on the same day as the Islam Makhachev-Arman Tsarukyan fight. My plan is to go out there dominate Dariush, finish him, get the mic, and make my case for a title fight. “
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Responding to seeing Helwani surprised at his title ambitions, Moicani further justified his case and said that he was the only one in the top 15, top 10, or even the top 5, who had impressive statistics like him.
“Why not?… People keep talking about the Rafael Dos Anjos fight but that was at 165 lbs on short notice. That was not 155 lbs. So, just see if there’s anybody in the top 15, top 10, or top 5 who has 6 consecutive wins with 5 stoppages. “
While Moicano sounds confident, this is a remote possibility at best. Following his win against Michael Chandler at UFC 309, Charles Oliveira is all but guaranteed a title shot next. Surprisingly, when Helwani made Moicano aware of the real state of affairs, the Brazilian took it in his stride and said that he would be okay since it wasn’t his call. He just wants to be active and keep “doing his thing and winning“.
“I will have my chance for the belt. And if I don’t, that’s okay. I am making money, I am happy, I am living my dream. It is what it is.
Moicano also addressed the rumors of him duking it out with another exciting lightweight prospect Paddy Pimblett. As it turns out he doesn’t put much stock on Pimblett’s name!
Moicano rubbishes Pimblett challenge
On paper, Pimblett, ranked 13th would be the perfect foil to Moicano’s rampaging win streak. But Moicano doesn’t put much stock in Pimblett’s skills.
So when Helwani pressed him about the possibility of that matchup, Moicano simply claimed that there was a reason the UFC wasn’t pushing for it. He asked Helwani if he had heard the rumors about Pimblett fighting Benoit St-Denis and said,
I don’t know if it’s official but I saw it on Twitter… Maybe it’s BS but if they end up doing Pimblett vs BSD, it will be very clear why they didn’t put me against Paddy. I beat BSD 10-7 in the first round. I just beat his a**. And they are going to put me against Paddy? “
Moicano believes that the UFC doesn’t want to pair Paddy and him because the former is a rising star and could be a massive draw for their European events.
They had tried pushing BSD, who was on a 5-fight win streak, and had him fight Dustin Poirier and then Moicano, which killed all his momentum. And with Ciryl Gane no longer drawing the crowds like he used to, they need someone to carry that torch for them.
This is why Moicano doesn’t believe that the UFC would ever push Pimblett to a fight against him.
