Renato Moicano plans to prove he belongs among lightweight best with win over Jai Herbert

Renato Moicano was hoping to get some ranked opponents when he moved up to lightweight, but that hasn’t happened.

The Brazilian was a top-10 featherweight but when he moved up he fought Damir Hadzovic and won by submission. In his next fight, he suffered a TKO loss to Rafael Fiziev. He will now face Jai Herbert at UFC Vegas 30.

Although Moicano wasn’t too familiar with him, his close friend and training partner in Francisco Trinaldo fought him. Moicano said he spoke to Trinaldo and got some good information for this fight.

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“I watched his fight against Trinaldo because he’s a longtime training partner. As soon as they offered me him, I watched all his fights,” Moicano said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “He’s a good fighter and it’ll be an exciting matchup… I did speak a little bit to Trinaldo and he shared some information.”

Entering the fight, Moicano knows he will have to try and figure out Herbert’s size. Hebert will have a five-inch reach advantage and a two-inch height advantage. Yet, Moicano is confident in his skill set that he’ll be able to dictate where this fight takes place and get his hand raised.

“My game plan for this fight is to just do what I do. Go in there and have fun and try my best,” Moicano said. “I’m not worried if he’s tall or anything, I’m worried about me. I don’t care too much about my opponent, I care about what I half to do… I think it’s a good fight. Jai is a tough guy but I have the better record and fought the tougher guys. I’m not taking anything from him. I’m here to prove myself as one of the best in the division. In order to do that, I need to beat him on June 26 and that is what I plan to do. Let’s see how the fight plays out.”

If Renato Moicano is going to become a top lightweight contender as he thinks, he knows he needs to beat Herbert on Saturday. If he loses, it would be two in a row and he’d be just 1-4 in his last five so he knows his job could be on the line.

Yet, he isn’t thinking about that as Moicano knows if he goes out and fights like himself he’ll win the fight.

“None. I don’t care about pressure or anything. I just care about doing my training right and go over there and deliver a good performance for myself,” Moicano said. “Back in the day, I used to think about fans and what other people would think, I’m just focused on myself.”

If Moicano does all that and gets his hand raised, the hope is to start getting some bigger names at lightweight and work his way up the ranks.

“Maybe, but I don’t want to think about that. I did think when I moved to lightweight they would get me bigger names,” Moicano concluded. “Maybe I get this win and they give me a top-15 but I don’t care. I’m here to make some money, beat some people up, and to be happy.”

Do you think Renato Moicano will beat Jai Herbert at UFC Vegas 30?