Ahead of his own return to action tomorrow in the main event of UFC Fight Night Paris, Renato Moicano has poked fun at lightweight contender, Michael Chandler for waiting as long as he did for a failed pairing with former two-weight champion, Conor McGregor, describing the Missouri veteran as “dumb” for doing so.
Moicano, who returns against French contender, Benoit Saint-Denis this weekend in Paris, looks to leap from his current number eleven rank in the division, and extend his winning run to four straight fights.
Sidelined since he featured on the preliminary card of UFC 300 back in April, Brasilia native, Moicano most recently rallied to land a second round TKO win over fellow contender, Jalin Turner, adding to wins over perennial contender, Drew Dober and Brad Riddell.
Renato Moicano rips Michael Chandler for extended hiatus
And ahead of his high-profile return against Saint-Denis this weekend at the Accor Arena, Moicano has weighed in the hiatus of Chandler — who has at least booked a November return against former champion, Charles Oliveira in a five round rematch at UFC 309, claiming the ex-Bellator MMA star is “dumb” for waiting on a fight with McGregor.
“I’m surprised he [Michael Chandler] didn’t continue waiting,” Renato Moicano told MMA Fighting. “This guy is too dumb, man. You’re raising a bet that has everything to go wrong. (Conor) McGregor is MMA’s biggest troll, right now. He has no incentive to fight. What’s the incentive for Conor McGregor to fight? He makes more money outside of fighting. His purse is nothing compared to what this guy makes with his business.”
“Right now, he’s using the UFC more like a marketing agency because everybody talks about him when he says he’s going to fight, and he’s done it again and again,” Renato Moicano explained. “I was surprised that Chandler gave up on waiting because he’s spent so much time — I think he was so invested on this fight that it was hard for him to pull out, but he saw it was for the best.”