Mohawk focused before fighting in the UFC. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook/UFC
Renato Moicano He opened up. The Brazilian spoke about what he called the domino effect left by Arman Tsarukyan after his exit from the lightweight (up to 70,3 kg) title fight against Islam makhachev No. UFC 311in January. For him, Arman's withdrawal even has repercussions in the interim title race between Justin gaethje e Paddy Pimblett.
Moicano was the guy who took on the mission at the last minute, agreeing to face the then-champion. Islam makhachev With only 24 hours left on the clock, he did what he could, but in his view, the crack that appeared before the fight was avoidable. And, according to the Brazilian, it cost everyone in the division dearly.
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In an interview for the program “Standemup”, hosted by Emiel Sardarean, Renato Moicano It's unloaded.
“I don’t think it’s fair. Who did he defeat in the division? When I fought Makhachev, Arman was supposed to fight for the title and ended up ruining the division. If Arman had fought that night, the division would still exist, but now we have Topuria getting divorced and not wanting to fight… They have Gaethje vs. Pimblett, and to me, that’s going to be a sham title. It doesn’t make sense to have an interim belt because Topuria would be the champion anyway,” said the Brazilian.
Specifically, Tsarukyan suffered a back injury the day before... UFC 311During his weight cut in January, the organization was forced to cancel his highly anticipated title fight. According to Moicano, if Arman had stepped into the octagon, the division's script would have remained intact: champion versus challenger, and the series would have continued.
"A sham title," says Renato Moicano about the fight between Gaethje and Pimblett at UFC 324.
The most notorious consequence of this story came later. Makhachev chose to relinquish the lightweight title to pursue another gold medal in the welterweight division (up to 77 kg), facing... Jack Della Maddalena No. UFC 322, in November.
The movement paved the way for another unlikely change: Ilia Topuria, who came from the featherweight division (up to 65,7 kg), moved up and knocked out Charles of the Bronx No. UFC 317In June, he won the vacant lightweight title and became the tenth athlete in history to win titles in two divisions of the company.
But there wasn't time for the dust to settle. At the end of November, Topuria announced a break in the first quarter of 2026 due to personal issues related to her divorce and her routine with her children.
With the top lightweight title temporarily unavailable, the UFC scheduled the interim title fight for the division on UFC 324, on January 24, between Justin gaethje e Paddy PimblettThat's when the debate heated up and Renato Moicano He didn't remain silent, calling the dispute a "sham title".
UFC 324
O UFC 324 It will be the first event of the 2026 season, on January 24th. Last Thursday (27), Dana White, president of the UFC, announced the card. Main fight of the night, Justin gaethje e Paddy Pimblett They are competing for the interim lightweight title.
At this same event, the Brazilian Amanda nunes Return from retirement to face Kayla harrison for the bantamweight title (up to 61,2 kg). The card also features the Brazilians Deiveson Figueiredo e Jean SilvaCheck out the card below [subject to change]:
Lightweight: Justin gaethje x Paddy Pimblett – Fight for the belt
Bantamweight: Kayla harrison x Amanda nunes – Fight for the belt
Bantamweight: Sean O'Malley x song yadong
Bantamweight: Umar Nurmagomedov x Deiveson Figueiredo
Heavyweight: Waldo Cortes Acosta x Derrick Lewis
Feather weight: arnold allen x Jean Silva
Fly weight: Alexa grasso x Rose namajunas
Average weight: Ateba Gautier x Andrey Pulyaev
Light Heavyweight: Nikita Krylov x Modest Bukauskas
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