Renato Moicano, after obliterating City Kickboxing’s Brad Riddell, wants another major name from the Auckland gym. He called out Dan Hooker, another UFC lightweight, at the UFC 281 post-fight press conference, but had a bizarre stipulation on where he wants to face “The Hangman”.
“I hope they give me Hooker because he just won. It makes sense for me, we fought on the same night, and I just beat his training partner. So, I think that fight makes sense.
Renato Moicano Calls out Dan Hooker
I should be ranked. Plain and simple because I’m good, and I know how good I am and I know I can beat those guys. So I have to be on the rankings like I was at featherweight. I will climb up and eventually I’m gonna be at the top.”
Moicano has endured a spotty record of late, going 3-2 in his last five fights. His twin losses came against Rafael Fiziev and Rafael dos Anjos, both elite lightweights acting as gatekeepers for the division. Prior to that, Moicano, despite his demands to be offered access into the upper levels of the UFC lightweight rankings, suffered back-to-back losses against the Korean Zombie and Jose Aldo at featherweight.
Despite this, Moicano remains a significant threat, with all five of his most recent victories coming via rear naked choke. Moicano’s aggressive, progressive jiu-jitsu prowess saw him dispatch Brad Riddell inside a single round at UFC 281, and Moicano will doubtless be looking to repeat the feat against Dan Hooker.
At UFC 281, Hooker snapped his two-fight skid with an emphatic victory over another jiu-jitsu specialist, Claudio Puelles. With Renato Moicano demanding a chance to etch his name in the lightweight rankings, and Hooker back to winning ways, it’s likely that Moicano views the City Kickboxing veteran as a strong opponent and point of entry towards a title charge.
With Hooker, who still calls New Zealand home, likely to appear on the UFC 284 card in Perth, Australia, Moicano declined the chance to travel to Australia for the fight. Instead, he wants Hooker on home soil, in Brazil.
“Australia? Perfect – no, no Australia is not perfect, Brazil is perfect and Brazil is right away. Everybody loves Rio, who doesn’t like Rio? So I don’t know about Australia, crocodiles and all that stuff, spiders. I’m not sure. Let’s stick to Rio.”
Do you think we’ll see Hooker vs Moicano, in Australia or Brazil? Let us know in the comments.
