“Prepare yourself my brother” - Renato Moicano calls out firebrand UFC lightweight for next fight
Renato Moicano is eyeing a 155-pounder within the top 10 for his next outing of 2024.
Speaking to The Schmo on The Schmo and The Pro after leaving the hospital following his UFC Vegas 85 bout, 'Money' already had an idea for his next in-cage payday hours after recording his last win over Drew Dober on the weekend.
In an excerpt from his full-length YouTube interview with The Schmo, Moicano said:
"I think right now I should fight Beneil Dariush. That's the fight to make. He lost two times last year, you know, and I'm winning. In lightweight, I'm 5-1, you know, three submissions."
Moicano added:
"So I think I am in the spot that they cannot deny me someone on the top ten. I think this guy will be Beneil Dariush. So prepare yourself my brother because I'm bringing hell to the fight."
Check out Renato Moicano calling out Beneil Dariush below:
Renato Moicano regains momentum with back-to-back wins
The 34-year-old returned to action after over a year outside of the cage and bested the UFC's number 15-ranked lightweight in the process. An attempt to book a fight last April vs Arman Tsarukyan was scrapped due to a Moicano injury, which resulted in a lengthy hiatus from competition.
That Dober win now sees Moicano with back-to-back victories inside the octagon, and he conducted another electric post-fight interview, which is something he is becoming known for as well. Pre-hiatus, he rebounded from a UFC 272 points loss to Rafael dos Anjos to submit Brad Riddell via first-round rear naked choke at UFC 281 later that same year in November 2022.
The native of Brazil will have been a UFC competitor for a decade by this December. The interim Jungle Fight featherweight champion began his UFC run on a three-fight winning streak over. Moicano would have his first UFC setback to Brian Ortega at UFC 214.
Consecutive wins over Calvin Kattar and Cub Swanson would then give way to back-to-back defeats to Jose Aldo and Chan Sung Jung, respectively. A win over Damir Hadžović and a loss to Rafael Fiziev for Renato Moicano then segued into back-to-back RNC finishes. These came over Jai Herbert and Alexander Hernandez in June 2021 and February 2022, respectively, to cover Moicano's entire octagon tenure as of this writing.