Renato Moicano Ends Two-Fight Skid With a Second-Round Choke and Nobody Saw It Coming
Brazilian lightweight Renato Moicano walked into the UFC Fight Night main event at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas on Saturday night carrying the weight of back-to-back losses. He left as a man reborn. Moicano absolutely dismantled Scotland's Chris Duncan with a rear-naked-choke submission at 3:14 of the second round, snapping his losing streak in dominant fashion and reminding the lightweight division exactly why he belongs in the conversation.
Moicano Was Operational From Whistle to Finish
This wasn't close. Moicano (21-7-1) controlled the entire fight, giving Duncan (15-3-0) just one second of control time across five minutes of action. That's not a typo. One second. Meanwhile, Moicano was landing strikes at will, connecting on 62 total shots compared to Duncan's 30. The Scottish fighter came in riding a four-fight win streak, but Moicano ended that narrative fast and put Duncan on the canvas with an emphatic finish.
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Moicano wasn't alone in getting back on track. Brazilian strawweight Virna Jandiroba bounced back from a title-fight loss to Mackenzie Dern last October by earning a unanimous decision over fellow Brazilian Tabatha Ricci (30-27, 29-28, 29-28). Jandiroba improved to 23-4-0 after her five-fight winning streak was snapped by Dern.
The rest of the main card was a showcase of finishes. Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev of Turkey stayed perfect at 9-0-0 with a light heavyweight rear-naked-choke submission of Brazil's Brendson Ribeiro at 2:52 of the opening round. Bantamweight Ethyn Ewing (10-2-0) scored a third-round KO/TKO to hand Brazilian Rafael Estevam his first career loss and drop him to 14-1-0. Tommy McMillen (10-0-0) made his UFC debut count with a first-round KO/TKO in the featherweight division, finishing Italy's Manolo Zecchini (11-5-0) with a knee strike. In the opener, Brazilian Jose Delano (17-3-0) earned a unanimous decision over Poland's Robert Ruchala (11-3-0) in his own UFC debut.
Moicano is back on the winning side and hungry to climb back up the lightweight ladder. That's exactly the kind of statement the Emerald City loves to see.
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