Renato Moicano was greater than keen to step up and battle Justin Gaethje at UFC 313. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.
Initially, Gaethje was scheduled to sq. off with Dan Hooker in a five-round co-main occasion that had battle followers salivating from the second it was introduced. Sadly, the battle would by no means come to fruition after ‘The Hangman’ suffered a damaged hand while coaching, forcing him to bow out of the bout.
Decided to maintain Gaethje on the cardboard, the UFC instantly went to work in search of a substitute. One fighter who shortly made himself accessible was Moicano — the person who only in the near past stepped up and fought Islam Makhachev in January.
“2 weeks is good, I have enough time for 2 or 3 sparring sessions,” Moicano wrote on X, including that “I will be ready if they call!”
Renato Moicano reveals why the UFC went in a unique route
Because it seems, the UFC did name, however after a couple of back-and-forth exchanges through textual content, the promotion determined to go in a unique route.
Providing some perception into why talks fell by means of on his Present Me The Cash podcast, Moicano revealed that his request for the battle to be a catchweight was the straw that broke the camel’s again.
“Just to clarify, people were saying that I ran from the fight,” Moicano stated. “But to be honest, the UFC messaged me [about the fight], and I said ‘Hey, I am 190lbs, we can do a catchweight?’ But they didn’t want a catchweight, so it is what it is.”
As an alternative, Justin Gaethje will meet the returning Rafael Fiziev within the UFC 313 co-main occasion. Will probably be Fiziev’s first time competing since struggling a leg damage throughout the second spherical of his September 2023 conflict towards Mateusz Gamrot.
Earlier that very same yr, ‘Ataman’ went toe-to-toe with Gaethje at UFC 286. ‘The Highlight’ got here out on prime that evening, securing a majority determination victory over Fiziev, snapping the Kazakh’s six-fight win streak.
