Sabotaged? Moicano is outraged by updated UFC rankings

The official rankings of UFC were updated this Tuesday (1st), following the results of the UFC Parisand Renato Moicanowho won the main fight, was angry at not having moved up in position.

The Brasilia native defeated favorite Benoit Saint Denis by medical knockout between the second and third rounds, as the Frenchman was very injured and could not see in one of his eyes due to the swelling caused by the blows he received.

Despite his brutal performance, Moicano remained in 11th place in the lightweight rankings, and that wasn’t the only thing that made him uncomfortable; Saint Denis did not fall in position even with the second consecutive defeat.

“This is the first time I’ve seen someone destroy their opponent and not move up in the rankings. I think MMA journalists love [Emmanuel] Macron too”, he teased, on his profile on X (formerly Twitter).

Renato was referring to his speech against the President of France right after his knockout victory, still on top of the Octagon. Moicano believes he should have moved up to 6th place after the fight.

“I was already feeling like it wasn’t going to happen, they weren’t going to go up or down Saint Denis. And that’s exactly what happened,” he said, on his YouTube channel.

The Brazilian also explored each name in the lightweight ranking from 11th to 6th position to argue that he deserved to have moved up. See his explanations below:

10th – Max Holloway: He hasn’t fought in the lightweight category and will fight for the featherweight belt
9th – Rafael Fiziev: comes from two defeats, is injured and hasn’t fought for almost a year, with no expected return
8th – Mateusz Gamrot: comes from defeat
7th – Beneil Dariush: comes from two defeats and “is old”
6th – Michael Chandler: stopped since 2022 and coming from defeat

“How come I don’t at least jump up to Michael Chandler? There’s no way I’m behind him, Dariush, Gamrot and Fiziev. It doesn’t make sense! The rankings aren’t worth shit!”, he shot.

Renato Moicano is on a streak of six wins in the lightweight division, two by knockout and three by submission before the end of the second round. Still, he didn’t climb the rankings.

Renato Moicano did not receive a bonus

In addition to not having moved up in the UFC lightweight rankings, Renato Moicano is also not among the names that received the US$50,000 bonus (R$273,000, at current prices) for performance on the night.

The Brazilian also claimed that the French government charged him a tax on the same US$50,000 that he failed to receive —hence the revolt with Macron on top of the Octagon.

“A totally absurd taxation. The UFC creates jobs, stimulates consumption and taxing it in a way like this makes me never want to fight in France again. Everyone has to pay taxes, but it’s absurd to tax a guy like that on a guy who doesn’t is not even a citizen of the country”, he said.