Daniel Cunningham
This past Saturday in the main event of UFC Vegas 115, we saw a lightweight matchup with a ranking on the line. 10th ranked Renato Moicano (21-7-1) was looking to defend his spot in the rankings against surging contender Chris Duncan (15-3).
These two are currently teammates at American Top Team and Duncan admitted ahead of the fight that Moicano used to dominate him in training. Turns out, the fight played out much like their old training sessions because it was all Renato Moicano on Saturday night.
Moicano was incredibly focused ahead of this fight and he stayed away from social media. You got the feeling that he was taking this fight incredibly serious and he fought incredibly well. Moicano dominated on the feet and he dominated on the ground. He bloodied Duncan and ultimately submitted him in the second round at UFC Vegas 115.
What’s next after UFC Vegas 115?
Renato Moicano knew he needed a win badly on Saturday night. In January 2025, Moicano was riding a four-fight win streak and that winning streak made him the pick to fight Islam Makhachev for the UFC lightweight title when Arman Tsarukyan fell out a day before the fight.
Moicano lost that fight and then fought Beneil Dariush last June. It didn’t feel like Moicano took the fight seriously and he got tired pretty quickly in that fight and ultimately lost a decision. This fight at Duncan was him fighting for his spot in the rankings.
When guys are put in this position, they either fight incredibly well and show they are still relevant or they keep falling down the steep hill to irrelevancy. Moicano fought well and showed the UFC that he’s still a factor at 155.
In terms of what’s next Moicano called for a fight with Brian Ortega who is supposedly moving up to lightweight. That could be an option, but he also called for a fight with Paddy Pimblett. Unless the UFC targets Pimblett taking on Dan Hooker next, I actually like the idea of someone like Moicano facing Pimblett. Seems like an easy sell.
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