Renato Moicano blue-balls French fans, Elbows St. Denis into Doctor's Stoppage

Val Dewar

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Renato Moicano blue-balls French fans, Elbows St. Denis into Doctor's Stoppage image

MMA: UFC 300-Weigh Ins © Mark J. Rebilas | 2024 Apr 12

The UFC Paris main event between top fifteen lightweight talents may have ended prematurely due to a doctor stopping the fight, but – and French fans may not like to hear it – the win and finish are completely legitimate. Brazil’s Renato Moicano is the one who forced the doctor to stop it by cutting St. Denis' head open with elbows. Renato Moicano is the one who kept pounding away until one eye swelled shut and the other was well on the way. Renato Moicano is the one who finished Benoit St. Denis, not the doctor.

Any denial from French combat sports lovers will come as no surprise; Benoit is arguably their most beloved fighter at present, a title he arguably stole from Ciryl Gane around the time the latter lost to Jon Jones in just over a minute. As a former member of their country's special forces, many French people like to use him as a focal point for patriotism. St. Denis' entertaining fight style also won him a lot of fans when he was on his five-fight winning streak, which doubled as a 100% finishing streak.

However 'Money Moicano' was able to use that aggressiveness against him by stepping into a body-lock early in the first round and then securing an easy takedown. Benoit St. Denis is himself a grappler, but the gulf in their technical abilities in that realm became apparent almost immediately. Renato used his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt skills to slice through the Frenchman's guard like butter, soon arriving in full mount. From there, the finishing blows fell on his foe's face in a flurry, though it would take another round-and-a-half before the result was made official.

Even if St. Denis had been somehow allowed to continue to fight despite only being able to see from one of his eyes, the fight was firmly in the Brazilian’s control. Despite losing the second round by taking his foot off the gas pedal, Renato seemed calm, collected, and hardly hurt at all. St. Denis gassed out in his last fight, against Dustin Poirier, and his breaths came hard by the time ten minutes had elapsed in this one, not to mention his face which looked more like meat than human skin.

Once again Renato Moicano defied the odds, winning as a huge underdog. That may not be why he calls himself 'Money Moicano,' as we know it's due to his love for economics and investing, but the name is certainly apt. The Brazilian lightweight is in the business of investing in himself, and with a four-fight winning streak in hand, his stock is on the rise. 

Val Dewar

Val Dewar Photo

Val was initiated into Steelers Nation from the moment he was born — his first memory is a game vs. New England from when "Slash" was QB — and doing sports writing has always been a dream career for him. In 2022 he broke into the industry by writing about combat sports for Cageside Press, and now has the opportunity to continue that work with TSN as an MMA writer, as well as get his feet wet on the Steelers beat.