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 alternative. 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 sweet, I’ve sufficient time for two or 3 sparring classes,” Moicano wrote on X, including that “I might be prepared in the event that they name!”
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 by way of 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.
“Simply to make clear, individuals have been saying that I ran from the battle,” Moicano mentioned. “However to be sincere, the UFC messaged me [about the fight], and I mentioned ‘Hey, I’m 190lbs, we will do a catchweight?’ However they didn’t desire a catchweight, so it’s what it’s.”
As a substitute, 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 harm in the course of the second spherical of his September 2023 conflict in opposition to Mateusz Gamrot.
Earlier that very same yr, ‘Ataman’ went toe-to-toe with Gaethje at UFC 286. ‘The Spotlight’ got here out on high that evening, securing a majority choice victory over Fiziev, snapping the Kazakh’s six-fight win streak.
