Renato Moicano eyes UFC 226 return against Cub Swanson

Moments after his win over Calvin Kattar at UFC 223 on April 7, Renato Moicano told the media in Brooklyn he was hoping that his next fight would be against the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Cub Swanson.

Edgar came out victorious against Swanson once again, winning via unanimous decision on April 21, and Moicano would love to have a chance to meet the former lightweight champion and featherweight contender inside the Octagon. However, he doesn’t think the company would go in that direction.

“I think that the ideal scenario, though unlikely, would be a fight with Frankie Edgar,” Moicano told MMA Fighting. “I would love that, but I’m new in the UFC and I don’t have a big name, and he already called for a fight with the winner of (Brian) Ortega) and (Max) Holloway, so he definitely won’t fight someone not as low in the ranking as myself.”

“Since I don’t think about the ideal scenario only,” he continued, “We think that Cub Swanson would be a good test and a good fight for both of us. He’s ranked high in the UFC. He was on a roll in the UFC before his recent losses, one of the best runs of his career. He still is someone you have to beat before fighting for the belt.”

Moicano, who suffered his only MMA loss to Ortega in July 2017, hopes to be back in action inside the Octagon at the UFC 226 pay-per-view card on July 7, which features Holloway vs Ortega for the featherweight championship in the co-main event.

“I always liked to watch his fights as a fan, like the ones against Doo Ho Choi and (Jeremy) Stephens, but I don’t think he fought the same way with Ortega and Frankie Edgar,” Moicano said. “I don’t know if he kind of froze because he had already lost to Frankie Edgar, but he accepted the defeat. He didn’t go for the win.

“It was sad to see, as a fan who has watched him fight for years. He was defending the takedowns in the first round but letting the punches connect. He lost the second round again. He should have gone all or nothing in the third. He even landed a good punch, but didn’t continue going forward. Every fighter can lose, it happens, but I’m against giving up like that. Losing by one (point) or losing by a 1,000 makes no difference.”

Swanson was riding a four-fight winning streak prior to his losses to Ortega and Edgar, earning decisions over Hacran Dias, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Doo Ho Choi and Artem Lobov. Moicano is 4-1 in the UFC with wins over Calvin Kattar, Jeremy Stephens, Zubaira Tukhugov and Tom Niinimaki.