Renato Moicano targets Ilia Topuria as his next opponent after UFC Vegas 123

"

Ilia Topuria has yet to book a fight in the UFC after the beating imposed by Justin Gaethje in the main event of UFC White House this past June, and longtime veteran Renato Moicano argues he’s the ideal opponent for the former two-division champion when he’s ready to re-enter the cage. Moicano, who faces off with Tom Nolan in the main event of UFC Vegas 123 after Moicano was pulled from the UFC 331 with his original opponent Brian Ortega out due to a cut, said he has a few names in mind for a post-fight callout in case of a victory. The biggest name possible would be Topuria, who had a perfect 17-0 career in MMA prior to the Gaethje knockout. “Ilia Topuria. That’s a name,” Moicano told MMA Fighting. “He needs an easy fight, right? That’s the truth. We know how the UFC operates. Either they sacrifice him and Paddy Pimblett [against each other], or they’ll give him a fight to keep rolling, so the guy can get his confidence back. And I think his confidence is broken. And look at how life works, man. Six months ago, I was saying this guy could possibly be one of the greatest of all time, but you’re only as good as your last fight. And he can come back. He can come back, knock out the next guy, and get back on track.” Topuria won his first nine bouts in the UFC before the Gaethje clash, finishing seven opponents including Max Holloway, Charles Oliveira and Alexander Volkanovski, and Moicano would expect him to be more dangerous now after enduring such “humiliation” on the White House lawn. “And it would be a fucking tough fight because I think this guy is pissed off, right?” Moicano said. “He must be training like an animal. But that’s life, right? That’s life. I think that fight would make sense. I don’t know if the UFC will make it happen. I don’t even know if that’s the fight I’ll ask for. Guilherme, like I’m telling you, do I prepare my speech? No, man. You can already see that I have all of this in my head. I get there, I win, I look somewhere, and it feels like God is telling me, ‘Say this for me.’ Obviously, that’s not literally what I’m telling you, but I feel in my heart what I’m supposed to say right there, and it’s been working since 2022. I just say what’s in my heart.” “He seems like an intelligent guy who will learn from his mistake. What was his mistake? He thought he could knock out a guy who’s difficult to knock out [laughs]. He thought he could knock him out at any moment. And it’s one thing to say that, it’s another thing to step into the cage and act as if it’s true. Man, it’s very difficult to do that against Justin Gaethje. He almost knocked him out, but then he took so much damage, got beaten up so badly, that he was destroyed. It was a total humiliation, that’s the truth. One of the biggest upsets, a humiliation, losing on the biggest spectacle the UFC has ever had, inside the White House. It created a legend, right? Justin Gaethje became a legend after that night, and it was because of his arrogance. It’s that old story: he’s going to have to put on the humility shoes, stay nice and quiet, and that makes the guy even more dangerous.” The UFC lightweight division has seen a recent influx of new blood as of late, with the devastating debut of Salahdine Parnasse, and could get even deeper with the potential signing of undefeated PFL champion Usman Nurmagomedov. Moicano said he’s willing to be the “easy” pray for Topuria, but that wouldn’t apply to those other two. “[UFC] could [offer me]. The difficult part will be getting me to accept it,” Moicano said. “It will be hard to make me accept it. I’ve been a fool many times in this life. I’ve been a fool. But the only thing about me that’s a fool is my face. The UFC can [offer me]. But like I told you, this is a message I’m going to leave for whoever is reading this article: the market determines your value. You shouldn’t measure yourself through other people’s eyes. You should know who you are and what your value is. From the moment the UFC doesn’t want me anymore, the cycle is over, and that’s fine. And you’ll never see me talking badly about the UFC. Never. A lot of people even call me the UFC’s puppet because I didn’t want to accept money that I believe is illegitimate. I signed the contract. That has nothing to do with the UFC; that has to do with my principles. “Brother, everything I have — today I have a YouTube channel that’s going to hit 400,000 people. I’m saying this because I’m fucking good. Moicano is fucking good. Why am I telling you this? It’s one thing to get lucky once, it’s another thing to get lucky twice, three times, four times. I built a complete career, I got to fight for a championship. You can try to take away the credit for the luck I had or not, God put me there, I fought for a title, and today I have a huge channel. And just like I have a big YouTube channel, just like I’m a UFC athlete, I’m going to use everything I’ve learned to grow outside the UFC. This isn’t the end. This is the beginning. “So if the UFC wants to force me to take a fight with Nurmagomedov, they’d better give me a lot of money. Otherwise, I’m fine with it. You can talk crap at me. The UFC can be sure of one thing: I’ll never talk badly about them. Because if today I have a house, if today I have a family, if today I have assets, if today I have a channel with almost 400,000 people, it’s because of the UFC. You can never be ungrateful. You can never spit in the plate you ate from.” It all depends on his performance at UFC Vegas 123, though, and Moicano said he understands being put in such position where he would be expected to lose to a younger athlete with years ahead of him in the sport. “And the UFC didn’t just give me a job. No, it gave me a life, it gave me authority, it gave me a purpose,” Moicano said. “Everything that happened in the UFC, I accepted. But now it’s time for me to choose a little more, you know? I know the UFC is a company, and they’re going to try to do what’s best for them. And now that I have an event myself, I completely understand them. You can’t take a 37-, 38-year-old guy and expect to build his career. He doesn’t have any more time. So what do you have to do? Take the younger guys. But maybe Moicano isn’t willing to play that role. We’ll see.”