Renato Moicano did not work with teammate Dustin Poirier ahead of his clash with Benoit Saint-Denis on Saturday.
Coming off a couple of big wins over Drew Dober and Jalin Turner, ‘Money’ will look to land his fourth-straight win inside the Octagon when he meets Saint-Denis in The City of Light.
Training at the prestigious American Top Team gym in Coconut Creek, Florida, Moicano recently made an appearance on the Show Me The Money podcast to discuss his preparations for fight night and who he worked with during his most recent camp.
“I trained a lot with Thiago Moises, and he told me that the guy is very strong, especially because he fought Benoit and then we trained together,” Moicano said. “We are both lightweights, of course, so he was telling me to be ready; he’s very strong. I’m not underestimating him; I know he’s tough, I know he’s strong. Dustin Poirier also gave me some tips, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. I have to go over there and do my job, and my job is to beat him” (h/t MMA News).
Renato Moicano opted to let Poirier Rest after his rough go against Islam makhachev
Surprisingly, Moicano didn’t squeeze in more work with Poirier.
In March, ‘The Diamond’ scored a spectacular second-round KO against Saint-Denis at UFC 299, making him the perfect brain to pick for anyone staring down the barrel of a bout with the ‘God of War.’ But after a brutal training camp and an even more brutal five-round scrap with lightweight champion Islam Makhachev over the summer, Moicano thought it was best to let the former interim titleholder rest.
“I know he had a very hard training camp against Islam [Makhachev] and Benoit, and I didn’t want to bother him. Even though we talked in Las Vegas at the International Fight Week, and he was more than ready to come down and train with me to help me for the fight, he was on vacation or something. I said, ‘Hey, I’m not gonna message you; I’m not gonna be selfish and try to make him come to ATT just to train with me’… I’m glad that I didn’t have to train with Dustin Poirier because he would beat my a**.”
With Moicano sitting as the No. 11 ranked lightweight contender and Saint-Denis at No. 12, a win for either fighter could give them the push they need to finally break into the division’s top 10.
