"It was very tight, I was surprised" - UFC 311 headliner Renato Moicano reflects on Islam Makhachev's dominant victory

Renato Moicano was almost the protagonist of a Cinderella story at UFC 311. Unfortunately, it did not come to fruition, and his loss to Islam Makhachev weighs heavily on his mind. In a recent appearance on the Show Me The Money podcast, Moicano detailed what it was like to fight Makhachev.

Despite feeling like he had an advantage in the striking department, Moicano was astonished by the speed of Makhachev's takedown and just how tight his D'Arce choke was, which forced an almost immediate tap from him. Unfortunately, the loss cost Moicano his lone lightweight title shot.

"It was very tight, I was surprised and I was [also] surprised by how fast he went to the neck, like Gilbert [Burns] was saying, I think that was a trap and now I think so too, because I was creating space and he kind of gave my space [away]. I was doing very well on the feet, but I didn't see the takedown. He was so fast. That impressed me."

Check out Renato Moicano detailing his loss to Islam Makhachev:

On the feet, Moicano's length appeared to pose some issues for Makhachev, with a slip from the Dagestani star being mistook for a knockdown. However, seconds afterward, Makhachev secured a remarkably easy takedown and ultimately submitted Moicano, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, with a D'Arce choke.

The win marked Makhachev's fourth consecutive ligthweight title defense, breaking the divisional record of three previously held by all-time greats in Khabib Nurmagomedov and B.J. Penn, as well as underrated champions Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson, all of whom have since retired.

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Renato Moicano has been beaten by every UFC champion he's faced

While Islam Makhachev is the only defending UFC champion Renato Moicano has faced, he isn't the only titleholder that Moicano has fought. Unfortunately, every time Moicano has faced a champion, in this case former champions, he has been beaten. Ex-lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos comes to mind.

The legendary José Aldo is another one, as the former featherweight champion faced Moicano during the latter's days as a 145-pounder. Aldo made relatively short of work of him, TKO'ing him in round two after rocking him on the feet and landing an avalanche of unanswered shots before the referee waved it off.