UFC Fight Night 170: Lee vs. Oliveira - Predictions and Picks

Lightweights: Renato Moicano vs. Damir Hadzovic

After a tricky 2019, Renato Moicano is moving to 155lbs for the first time

Few fighters suffered as horrible a 2019 as Renato Moicano. The Brazilian looked set to move into title contention after a red-hot run between 2014 and 2018 saw him go 5-1 in the UFC, with wins over Cub Swanson and Calvin Kattar, but last year saw him stopped twice, both by strikes, at the hands of Jose Aldo and then Chan Sung Jung.

The Brazilian is still extremely dangerous, though; he’s a slick grappler capable of latching onto a nasty choke with a second’s notice, and on the feet, he’s improved dramatically, to the point where he was actually doing well against Aldo until he got caught in the second round. He uses a pretty stiff jab, puts some combinations together well and his leg kicks are excellent.

As a first fight at 155lbs, this looks like a much more favorable fight for him, too; Hadzovic is probably the lowest-ranked opponent he’s faced since his UFC debut against Tom Niinimaki, and while he’s got power on the feet and has a decent wrestling game, nothing about his skills really marks him out as being truly dangerous.

This is still a winnable fight for the native of Bosnia; after suffering two knockout losses, Moicano may well come in gunshy, or worse, might’ve lost his durability altogether. But I personally doubt that; he wasn’t outclassed by Aldo, and the Korean Zombie is capable of knocking out any opponent.

In all honesty, then, this seems more like a nice rebound fight for Moicano to get back on the winning track in a new weight class in his home country. No offense to Hadzovic, but this is perhaps the most one-sided fight – on paper at least – on the whole card. If Christos Giagos can comfortably outwork Hadzovic, then I’ve got no doubt that Moicano can too.

The Pick: Moicano via unanimous decision