Prior to his scheduled matchup against Magomed Mustafaev on Oct. 17, Renato Moicano claimed former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis turned down a fight with him.
“Before they offered me (Mustafaev), UFC say to my manager we want to make Moicano against Pettis,” Moicano told MMA News.”I think this is made a lot of sense because he’s like a really good name and I think is a good fight. I really don’t know why he turned out the fight but what I know UFC offered me the fight and of course I agreed. And I think he doesn’t agree, I don’t know why.”
Moicano (14-3-1) won’t be fighting Mustafaev either due to visa issues. Newcomer Mateusz Gamrot will now face the Russian fighter instead at UFC Fight Island 6.
Moicano can’t risk leaving the country and getting stuck outside the United States as he’s in the process of getting his green card to become a permanent resident. Despite mentioning this to the UFC several times, they booked him to face Mustatiev on Fight Island which forced him to withdraw from the fight.
“I say to the UFC, I have to fight in the USA, I cannot leave the country,” Moicano explained. “And they say okay, at least this is what my managers say to me. And then they offered me the fight against the Mustafaev. But the contract was like ‘TBA’ so no location (listed). I totally understand UFC, it’s a strange time to fight because of the Coronavirus and I know they have to deal with a lot of things. So I don’t blame them, I just think they are like a very busy, they have a lot of fights to do. I really don’t know what happened. But the case is I cannot leave the country.”
The 32-year-old added he’s hoping to fight on the next UFC card in Las Vegas which is slated to take place in November.
