NEW YORK – Renato Moicano was slick in the cage Saturday at Madison Square Garden, but the most memorable moment for him may have taken place on the microphone.
After he quickly submitted City Kickboxing’s Brad Riddell (10-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) with a rear-naked choke at 3:20 of Round 1, Moicano (17-5-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC) cut an all-time promo during his in-cage interview with Joe Rogan.
“Joe Rogan, I don’t know if you know me,” Moicano screamed into the microphone. “I was ranked No. 4 in featherweight. I was the best featherweight on the planet and I lost to my idol, Jose Aldo. I lost to him. It was really bad for my career, but I moved up. I learned from my mistakes. Now, I’m f*cking here to take over. All these motherf*ckers, I’m here to take over. Make no mistake. I lost only to the best. But today, I’m the f*cking best.
“Let’s go, New York. Make some f*cking noise. Renato, I have to be on the f*cking rankings, man. This is disrespect. I took a fight, a five-round fight on five days’ notice. Five days’ notice. I was f*cking drinking beer and eating steaks in Brazil. They called me and I came here. I traveled 24 hours and motherf*cking disrespected me. I want the f*cking bonus. Moicano wants money.”
And the crowd went wild.
Moicano bounces back from a one-sided loss in March to former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. He has now won three of his most recent four. Moicano’s six submission victories by rear-naked choke in UFC competition are third-most in company history behind Demian Maia (nine) and Kenny Florian (seven).
Riddell enters a three-fight losing skid with three finish defeats.
Renato Moicano came to FIGHT 😤@MoicanoUFC gets it done in one at #UFC281! pic.twitter.com/Lop9e1ibCh
— UFC (@ufc) November 13, 2022
Up-to-the-minute UFC 281 results include:
- Renato Moicano def. Brad Riddell via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:20
- Ryan Spann def. Dominick Reyes via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:20
- Erin Blanchfield def. Molly McCann via submission (kimura) – Round 1, 3:37
- Andre Petrsoki def. Wellington Turman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Matt Frevola def. Ottman Azaitar via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 2:30
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Silvana Gomez Juarez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Michael Trizano def. Seungwoo Choi via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:51
- Montel Jackson def. Julio Arce via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-29)
- Carlos Ulberg def. Nicolae Negumereanu via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 3:44
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 281.
