Renato Moicano feels privileged for being able to fight one of his idols at UFC Fortaleza.
One half of UFC Fortaleza’s co-main event, Renato Moicano is ecstatic to share the Octagon with former featherweight champion Jose Aldo, one of his idols. In an interview with Combate, the 29-year-old contender reminisced about how he used to watch Jose Aldo perform back in the WEC days.
Furthermore, Moicano especially remembers Aldo’s fight against Mike Brown, who is now one of Renato’s coaches at American Top Team.
“I remember (Aldo’s WEC fights) very well,” Moicano said. “That was before I started competing professionally, when I was an amateur. I trained and watched WEC. It’s funny that today I have the opportunity to train with Mike Brown, because I watched his fight with Aldo. MMA is a new sport, it’s always changing, we see some guys coming in and some guys on their way out. It’s cool to see that transition. I never imagined myself fighting Aldo before, it’s a great experience, a dream come true. I saw him as an idol and still do. I already watched him in 2009 and I expect we have a great fight on Saturday.”
Although Aldo is a personal idol of his, Moicano claims he won’t second guess himself or be star struck against the man with the most title defenses at featherweight in the UFC. In Moicano’s eyes, the key is to focus on what he can do emerge victorious.
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“If we start thinking ‘Oh, Aldo this and Aldo that, he’s an idol’, I prefer not to. I just go and do it,” Moicano said. Sometimes we really want something in life, but we doubt ourselves with a ‘Can I do it?’ mentality, and then you end up doing nothing. I try to establish my game plan when it’s time to put it to use, I don’t think about anything.
“I spent one month and a half just training and [visualizing] my win, thinking of ways I could beat him and ways he could beat me, ways I could win all rounds, just going through all possibilities,” he continued. “That period ended last Saturday, now it’s fight week and I don’t think about anything else. I’m just thinking about making weight and attending all appointments. There’s nothing else to do but to enjoy the ride. I’ll show Aldo all the respect he deserves.”
Renato Moicano is expected to take on Jose Aldo at UFC Fight Night 144, in Fortaleza, Brazil, on February 2. The ESPN+ streamed card will be headlined by a bantamweight bout between contenders Marlon Moraes and Raphael Assuncao.