‘Money’ Moicano is still chasing a head coach gig on The Ultimate Fighter opposite Paddy Pimblett, who he vows to hurt if ‘The Baddy’ is unwise enough to face him.
First there was Renato Carneiro, then there was Renato Moicano. Now there is only Money Moicano, and Money Moicano is looking to make some big moves and make some big money after routing Benoit Saint-Denis in the main event of UFC Paris (watch the highlights here).
Moicano came into Paris an underdog against the imposing Saint-Denis, but he dispatched the former special forces soldier with relative ease, taking him down and battering his face to the point where doctors stopped the fight after the second round. Following that fight he asked for an even easier fight against Paddy Pimblett or Dan Hooker.
At the UFC Paris post-fight press conference, he suggested it would be a mistake for Pimblett to take him on.
“Don’t accept the fight or I will elbow your skull,” Moicano warned. “Please don’t accept the fight. I’m gonna hurt you. I’m gonna elbow your skull.”
As if Renato’s win over “BSD” wasn’t impressive enough, he did it with a badly broken shoulder that will take a while to heal. That seems to make him a perfect candidate to coach the next season of The Ultimate Fighter when it starts filming in spring 2025. There’d be no better foil than Paddy Pimblett, and the project interests him greatly even if coaching TUF isn’t known to be the most financially lucrative gig in MMA.
“I think it’s going to be a huge exposure, right?” he said about the opportunity. “And right now, I am looking for exposure. I’m looking for cameras because I have been in UFC for 10 years this year. It will be 10 years. And 3 years ago, nobody knew me.”
“I always worked hard, I have always put in the work. But it doesn’t matter if you are the best fighter in the world and nobody knows. So I want more cameras. I want more people talking about my name in MMA because that way I can bring more attention, and I can make my case to fight for the belt eventually.”
We hope the win over Saint-Denis helps Moicano rise up the rankings. A performance like that should, but these days the rankings seem to operate on a swap system where you take the spot of the guy you beat. “Money” was ranked No. 11 at lightweight coming into UFC Paris, while “God of War” was No. 12.
An ass kicking like we witnessed on Saturday night would hopefully get him on the doorstep of top five, but we’ll have to wait and see what the rankings look like when they’re released early this coming week.
As for Paddy Pimblett, he responded quickly to Moicano’s post-fight trash talk. “The Baddy” recently teased that a December fight might be in the cards for him next, but that he might have other obligations to deal with instead — like preparing for The Ultimate Fighter? Why not a December fight AND a coaching gig on The Ultimate Fighter? That’s our vote. Let us know what yours is for Moicano and Pimblett moving forward in the comments below.