Renato Moicano has been a top-10 featherweight for quite a while now but at UFC Brasilia he will make his lightweight debut.
Moicano was seemingly one fight away from a title shot when he took on Jose Aldo and lost by TKO. After that, he battled Chan Sung Jung in the main event of UFC Greenville where he was knocked out in under a minute. After the back-to-back losses, he realized the time was now to move up in weight.
“It’s been a while that my coach suggested to me to move up to the lightweight division, and I think now it’s the perfect time,” Moicano told MMA Junkie.
Although Renato Moicano is moving up in weight, he isn’t done at featherweight and says he wants to fight at both weight classes. He also eyes rematches with Brian Ortega and Jung.
“I’m planning on fighting in both [divisions] depending on the fight they offer,” Moicano said. “I want fight with the best of both divisions.
“I want to put together a sequence of wins and fight ranked guys in [the] 155 division, or get rematches with [Brian] Ortega and ‘Korean Zombie’ at 145.”
For now, Moicano is focused on his upcoming fight against Damir Hadzovic and knows it will be a tough fight. Should he get his hand raised he eyes fights against ranked opponents like Paul Felder.
“[He’s a] great fighter – I respect his fighting skills and I’ll be ready,” Moicano said. “Right now, I just have eyes on Damir and I’m focused on that fight. But I definitely want to fight with the best of the division, like Paul Felder and the other ranked guys.”
