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Renato Moicano seems confident he will hear 'And New' inside the octagon tomorrow night after Islam Makhachev suddenly found himself without an opponent. Arman Tsarukyan was initially slated to fight Makhachev in a rematch, with the latter's lightweight title up for grabs in the UFC 311 main event.
That was until a last-minute injury that the title contender was dealing with forced Tsarukyan's withdrawal from the promotion's first pay-per-view offering of 2025. Moicano was already slated to compete on Saturday night against Beneil Dariush, but now, less than 48 hours before the PPV headliner will take place, the charismatic 155-pounder has his first chance to fight for a UFC belt.
Taking to his X account to address his feelings on this whirlwind of recent circumstances, Moicano said:
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"Hey guess what I will be world champion tomorrow! God is so good! Thank you all the support #ufc311"
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Check out Renato Moicano's post below:
Dana White explains how Renato Moicano came to headline UFC 311
Renato Moicano being vaulted to the main event resulted in many in the MMA community asking several questions. Dana White took to social media in the hopes of offering up some answers to those inquisitive fight fans worldwide. The UFC CEO took to his personal Instagram page to provide some backstory on the amended UFC 311 headliner.
White mentioned around 1 AM how a call was received from Arman Tsarukyan regarding significant back pain that he was dealing with. The promoter went on to talk about how Tsarukyan felt he was not healthy enough to compete in the main event. This instance caused his chance to avenge a prior loss to Makhachev to fade away, at least for the time being.
The 35-year-old surging contender will now face Islam Makhachev, with White touting the resume of Moicano heading into tomorrow's 155-pound title bout. In giving credit to both the new title challenger and the defending champion, White stated:
"Moicano has been on a tear since moving up to 155 pounds and currently holds the longest active win streak amongst all fighters in the top 10 in the lightweight division. When I called Islam, Islam said, 'Brother, I am the champion. I don't care who it is. I will fight anyone.'"
The Brasilia native has a unique chance to not only become part of the UFC's rich lineage of lightweight champions, but Moicano can also shock the world by besting the UFC's number one pound-for-pound ranked fighter on short notice.
