As Renato Moicano walked out for his main event fight against Benoit Saint Denis at UFC Paris on Saturday, some viewers might have noticed a bump above his right shoulder. As it turns out, there was something going on there.
Hours later, Moicano shared a picture of an X-ray showing an apparently broken clavicle, claiming he hurt his shoulder three weeks before the fight but didn’t want to pull out of the event. It goes without saying doing just about anything with this, much less an actual UFC fight, would be incredibly painful.
The injury didn’t prevent Moicano from notching the most impressive win of his career, inflicting enough punishment on Saint Denis for a second-round TKO win.
The first round was a unanimous 10-8 for Moicano, who landed 36 significant strikes on Moicano’s head over five minutes. The damage was horrific, with Saint Denis’ eyes swelling shut as he walked to his corner. Saint Denis regrouped impressively, winning the second round on each judge’s scorecard, but the damage from the first worsened enough to draw the attention of the fight doctor.
Saint Denis was unable to show he could see out of his right eye, leading the doctor to call for the fight to be stopped. Moicano’s injury was bad, but this is absolutely a case where you should see the other guy.
Moicano celebrated his win with his trademark personality, heavily criticizing French President Emmanuel Macron, the French government and the concept of democracy. He proceeded to call out Paddy Pimblett and Dan Hooker for his next fight, describing them as “easy money”
“Next, I want easy money,” Moicano said in a postfight interview. “Paddy Pimblett, easy money, Dan Hooker, easy money. Don’t come up with bulls*** fights. Don’t come up with guys that are tough. I want easy fights. I just beat a hell of an athlete everybody was talking about, Benoit Saint Denis. But guess what? Money Moicano is the man tonight.”
The win was Moicano’s fourth straight and improved his record to 20-5-1. He entered Saturday 11th in the lightweight rankings and figures to see a healthy bump soon.