Dana White has mixed feelings about Renato Moicano non-stoppage at UFC 272

LAS VEGAS – According to UFC president Dana White, Renato Moicano was the only fighter among 26 to compete at UFC 272 who was taken to a Las Vegas hospital Saturday night.

“We’ll make sure he gets triple checked, take care of him,” White told reporters.

Moicano was on the receiving end of an all-around beatdown at T-Mobile Arena as he somehow, someway made it through all five rounds before losing a lopsided unanimous decision to Rafael dos Anjos. Even before it ended, the conversation turned to whether or not the fight should’ve been stopped before the 25 minutes – either by the cageside doctor, referee Marc Goddard or Moicano’s corner.

“It could’ve been stopped a couple times,” White said. “It’s just that Moicano is one of those guys that’s so tough. It could’ve been stopped and then at the end of the fifth round he started coming on. RDA was probably happy there wasn’t one more round of that fight.”

Dos Anjos almost finished off Moicano in the third round, but Goddard let it continue. In between rounds, Goddard had the doctor examine Moicano’s left eye, which was badly damaged and starting to close. Moicano passed the test, though, and the fight continued.

Moicano took more of a beating in the fourth round, his face mangled and covered in blood. It prompted another close look from the cageside doctor, who advised Goddard that Moicano could still see out of his eye but “it’s reasonable to stop this.” Goddard let it go to the fifth but warned Moicano that his leash was short.

Dos Anjos appeared to be holding back as the round unfolded. And then as White alluded to, Moicano landed some hard shots that forced dos Anjos to pick up the pace.

Compounding the criticism of the non-stoppage was the fact that Moicano took the fight on four days’ notice and spent 19 hours traveling from Brazil to Las Vegas. White, for his part, seemed conflicted on how he felt about how the situation was handled.

“I think a lot of people figured that fight should’ve been stopped earlier, right? Then he comes out in the fifth round,” White said. “We’ve said this a million times in the fight business, a guy who’s too-tough-for-his-own-good kind of thing if the ref doesn’t stop the fight. Moicano is that guy. But that’s why we made this fight. We made this fight with Moicano because he’s a stud.”