Renato Moicano adopted a smart strategy to control the pace and avoid physical exhaustion, a determining factor for the victory at UFC Vegas 115, held this Saturday (4). The Brazilian faced Chris Duncan in the main event, gained an advantage in the striking, punished his rival on his feet and secured the submission in the second round. The performance contrasts with his previous performance, when he showed evident fatigue and ended up being defeated by points by Beneil Dariush.
In an interview with UFC Brazil, Moicano revealed that he followed a plan devised with his coach, Marcus Parrumpa, prioritizing patience at the beginning of the fight to wear down his opponent. Confident in his superiority both standing and on the ground, the Brazilian opted to work with jabs, control the distance, and pressure his opponent against the cage, avoiding exposing himself to his rival's knockout power.
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“I was talking to Parrumpa. Many times, I go into the first round very eager, wanting to finish the fight, and I end up tiring myself out. I said: 'I'm better than this guy standing up, I'm better than this guy on the ground. He has more knockout power. So I'm going to tire him out,' and that's what I did. I threw the jab, waited for him to warm up 100%, and put him against the cage,” said Renato Moicano.
According to the fighter, the strategy paid off in the second round, when he noticed Duncan's fatigue. From then on, he began to dominate the action. By taking the fight to the ground, Moicano stated he was certain that victory was only a matter of time, given the damage already inflicted on his opponent, until he managed to secure the win by submission.
“In the second round, I already saw he was tired. I threw a jab, it landed, and I thought, 'He's screwed, he's going to spend five rounds taking jabs.' I threw some punches, hit him, blocked almost everything, but only one clean punch landed. And once it went to the ground, I knew it was only a matter of time. I saw him all bruised… and, thank God, thank Jesus Christ, I managed to get this victory,” concluded the Brazilian.
Renato Moicano breaks his losing streak in the UFC.
With his victory over Chris Duncan , Renato Moicano ended the worst losing streak of his career. The Brazilian had suffered two consecutive defeats, one by submission to Islam Makhachev and the other by judges' decision against Beneil Dariush.
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