‘This Is Arman’s Fault’: Renato Moicano Unloads on Lightweight Division Shake-Up

Renato Moicano isn’t impressed that Paddy Pimblett will be fighting for a belt at UFC 324 in January.

Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) is set to take on Justin Gaethje (26-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) for the interim title in the first UFC event of 2026. The news came as something of a surprise, as current lightweight champion Ilia Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) had been expected to make the first defense of his belt at the January 24 event in Las Vegas.

After it emerged that “El Matador” is set to take some time away from the Octagon to deal with some personal issues, Pimblett and Gaethje were booked to headline the card, leaving the division’s no. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan (23-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) on the outside looking in.

There is a feeling that Tsarukyan may still be paying the price for pulling out of his title shot against then-champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 311 last January, a move that saw Moicano step into the breach at the eleventh hour where he suffered a submission loss to Makhachev.

“I don't feel that's fair, you know?” Moicano told Stand Me Up. “But we live in a world that is not fair, you know? Giving a title to Paddy Pimblett, a title shot is unbelievable!

“And let me tell you something, brother. Who (has) he beat in the division? Michael Chandler coming off four losses, five losses. Tony Ferguson, eight losses. Bobby Green coming off three losses. And who he beat in the top 15? Nobody. And he's still getting the title.

“Money” pointed the finger at Moicano for pulling out of the fight against Makhachev last January as the trigger for the sequence of events that now sees Pimblett headlining the first major fight card of the Paramount Plus era.

“This is Arman's fault,” the Brazilian said. “This is Topuria's fault. You know, when I fought Makachev, Arman was supposed to fight for that title, and he fu***d up the division, that's the truth, you know? If he had fought that night, the division would keep going, but now we have Topuria going through divorce or something like that, he doesn't want to fight, but... it is what it is.

“To me, this is going to be the paper champ. You know, that's not an undisputed champ. And it doesn't make any sense to do this interim belt because Topuria will be the champion anyways. Whoever gets the belt now has to face Topuria for the unification of the belt. So, to me personally, doesn't make any sense. The fight should be number one contender.

“But why UFC did that? Because... They solve a lot of problems with that because Justin Gaethje was saying, if he didn't get the title shot, he would retire. So they put Justin Gaethje against Paddy Pimblett for the interim belt, and whoever wins fights Topuria. So that's not a real belt, you know?”