Renato Moicano has had a long-standing beef with Paddy Pimblett, and he believes he’ll win in a matchup.
However, his opinion of Pimblet soon changed after “Paddy” defeated King Green via submission at UFC 304. Moicano had to offer some respect to Pimblett after his stellar performance.
“I am very impressed,” Moicano said about Pimblett when speaking to MMA Fighting. “I think after the Bobby Green fight, I think Paddy Pimblett is a tougher matchup than Dan Hooker.
“Back in the day, I would be crazy to say that but right now we saw what Dan Hooker did [with] Mateusz Gamrot. He got caught many, many times in the first round. It was a close fight. I don’t think he did win, but you see the way Paddy Pimblett finished Bobby Green, and Bobby Green is not an easy guy to submit. The way he did so, props to Paddy Pimblett.”
Moicano admitted he had always believed Pimblett was overhyped, but after watching his performance, he was truly impressed. He agrees that Pimblett may prove a more challenging opponent than he expected.
“I was one of the doubters,” Moicano said. “But he did great, he did a great job against Bobby Green. He deserves some respect. Not much but some respect.”
Although Miocano has in previpous times asked for a battle with Pimblett, he is set to face Saint Denis–who is a rank behind Moicano. However, Moicano believes numbers doesn’t give more attention or credibility. The fioghter is all about accepting spotlight fights and beleieves a matchupo witrh Pimbleet will most likely put him in the limelight.
Rankings doesn’t matter,” Moicano said. “It doesn’t really matter. Because if rankings did matter, I would not fight Benoit Saint Denis. Because there is no point that I’m fighting backwards. The only point that I’m fighting Benoit Saint Denis is because he’s a tough opponent and that fight’s going to give me a lot of exposure.
‘In this sport, as in outside the sport, you need exposure. You need people to want to watch you. You need people to want to see what is going on. I like this guy, I’m going to follow him on social media, I’m going to buy his stuff, I’m going to support him. That’s what moves, not only the sport but every marketplace. Of course, Paddy Pimblett is a fight I think that would be awesome. I think that would be great. That would be nice.”
He continued.
‘“We see some guys in the top 15 that people don’t even know them,” Moicano said. “It doesn’t f*cking matter. People don’t know rankings. People know personalities. They know people that they can relate to. This guy is real, he’s talking stuff that I like. Some people are funny. People are different. Some people like to follow different people so I don’t care too much about the rankings.
“Because UFC doesn’t make decisions based on rankings. They make decisions based on popularity and how much money they can make off a fight. We’ve seen that over and over.”
Renato Moicano knows when it comes to the UFC, rankings don’t really matter, but it’s more about the weight the name carries. Moicano pointed out a veteran fighter who has great numbers but doesnt get enough interest in the octagon.
“I don’t want to talk too much shit because I don’t have nothing against the guy,” Moicano said. “I think he’s a great human being. and I think he’s a good fighter but he’s not in his prime anymore — Beneil Dariush, he’s still ranked and if I could choose to fight Beneil Dariush or fight Benoit Saint Denis or even Paddy Pimblett, or sometimes even Bobby Green — I would choose somebody else at the moment.
“Because it’s all about the moment that you are right now, how people are perceiving you, perceiving your career and some guys are maybe up in the rankings, they are in a good position for the rankings, but as far as popularity, they are not.”
As eager as Renato Moicano is to face Pimblett, he still has to defeat Denis in his upcoming fight. “Paddy” is also eager to see how the fight ends as he has his eyes on the winner of the bout.
“100 percent, I would be willing to fight Paddy Pimblett,” Moicano said. “I think Paddy Pimblett will be a great fight. But let’s see Sept. 28, and then I will talk some shit.”
Moicano will face Benoit Saint Denis at the main events of UFC Fight Night in Accor Arena, France, Paris.
