Moicano: Fiziev Fight Was Stopped Early

Renato Moicano suffered a first round knockout loss at the hands of Rafael Fiziev over the weekend (Sat., Dec. 12, 2020) at UFC 256 inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada (see it again here).

A few days removed from the loss, the Brazilian bomber is reflecting on the crucial defeat, saying the referee on duty could have given him a chance to recover because he wasn’t out. In fact, Moicano says he was already going on the offensive before the official on duty stepped in prematurely to put an end to the action.

“I think he made a mistake, because if you look closely, I also re-watched the fight, I was doing guard,” Moicano told MMA Fighting. “I was in closed guard, starting to work already, and the referee jumped the gun. I understand him – it’s not easy to come here and criticize the referee and say he’s wrong because I got hit twice and went down, so his first reaction is to protect [the fighter], but this is a MMA fight.”

And Moicano isn’t venting because he’s bitter. According to the Featherweight standout, he’s simply drawing from experience.

“I was dropped before, continued fighting and won. That happened more than once in my career in Brazil. I’m not saying that’s what would have happened, but the truth is I was ready. I knew that was a possibility, and I’m a well-trained fighter on the ground. In my opinion the referee made a mistake [and] he should have let it continue. But at the same time, I understand it because referees are stopping it early every time more now,”

“I didn’t feel that way – I felt on the entire time,” Moicano said. “I felt I lost the leg, but didn’t lose consciousness at any time — at least that I remember. It’s hard to say, of course. You’ll watch the video and see I got hit and felt it and went down, but I was protecting myself the entire time.” he concluded.

The loss was Moicano’s third in last four outings, a drastic fall after starting his UFC career 5-1. For what it’s worth, Joe Rogan thought the stoppage was a bit too early during the broadcast.