R. Moicano wants to play for the lightweight team in 2020. Photo: Reproduction/FacebookMoicano
The Brazilian Renato Moicano decided that it is time to seek new opportunities within Ultimate and signaled that he could be seen working in the lightweight division (up to 70,3kg) soon. Coming from two consecutive defeats among the featherweights (up to 65,7kg), the athlete challenged the experienced Clay guida to exchange forces in UFC Brasilia, which takes place on March 14th. In an interview with 'MMA Fighting', the Tupiniquim spoke about the possibility for 2020.
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“Some coaches were asking me to test myself in the lightweight category. At first I was apprehensive, but Mike Brown (coach) has asked me a few times since I moved to 'ATT' (American Top Team). We used to cut a lot of weight in Brazil and that was never a problem, but I suffered a lot from that in the last three commitments”, said the athlete.
For his debut, the Brazilian has already drawn up plans on who he would like to test himself against. Moicano chose the experienced Clay guida to exchange forces on the card that will represent the first time that the Ultimate delegation will arrive in Brasília.
“I'm a big fan of his (Clay) and, as he's performed in Brazil a few times before, I don't think it would be a problem. He is a veteran and a very popular athlete. So, I think it would be interesting to have a main or co-main fight in Brasília”, declared Renato.
The option to move up a division, in addition to greater comfort in weight cutting, is due, according to the Brazilian, due to the lack of options for possible opponents at the moment. The moment, then, would be ideal for Moicano to take a risk in the division dominated by Khabib Nurmagomedov, but the athlete does not rule out returning to featherweight in the future.
“I don't exclude the possibility of returning to featherweight, because my losses were to fighters in the top 5. I'm eighth in the rankings and I don't know who I could fight there. It's a great time to test myself at lightweight and see what happens. Everything is very flexible today. You see athletes changing categories all the time and I'm open to doing that for fights that are worth it”, he concluded the fight.
The year 2019, in terms of results, ended up not being positive for Moicano. In February, the athlete faced one of the biggest challenges of his career, when he agreed to face the former division champion, José Aldo, at UFC Fortaleza. The Brasilia native ended up defeated by Manauara by knockout and recorded his second defeat in his career.
Renato returned to the Octagon in June and faced 'Korean zombie' in the main fight of UFC Greenville. On that occasion, the Brazilian ended up suffering another knockout, after being surprised in the first round by his rival.
At 30 years old, Moicano now has 17 fights, with 13 wins, three losses and one draw.
Clay guida, challenged by Brasilia, has more than twice as many appearances in his MMA career. The 37-year-old North American has 54 fights, with 35 triumphs and 19 setbacks.
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