Renato Moicano didn’t leave UFC 311 with gold, but he’s definitely still “Money.”

The UFC had to find a replacement opponent for lightweight champion Islam Makhachev this past Saturday in Los Angeles, when Arman Tsarukyan bowed out of the originally scheduled main event with a back injury. To keep Makhachev on the card, UFC pulled Moicano from a fight with Beneil Dariush to challenge for the title instead.

Makhachev won handily, submitting Moicano in the first round, but Moicano was presumably well-compensated for his fight night save and for putting his four-fight win streak on the line. On the Show Me The Money podcast, Moicano was asked just how high the UFC went with their bonus check to reward him for his efforts.

“Over [$950,000],” Moicano said.

Official UFC 311 salaries were released due to the bout taking place in the state California and Moicano’s base pay was $250,000 with no win bonus. However, salaries made public by the commission typically do not include pay-per-view bonuses or any other bonuses the UFC sees fit to pay its fighters.

Even with a larger-than-usual check in his pocket, Moicano isn’t entirely happy with what he was left with when he departed from Los Angeles.

“The taxation is crazy,” Moicano said. “Crazy. I don’t know how people survive. Because California is one of the biggest GDP in the world. If you took their state, it’s like a country, but why? Because f*cking big tech. Silicon Valley, startups, and all that stuff, but these motherf*ckers they don’t pay taxes. … You know what’s up. Jeff Bezos motherf*cker is not paying any f*cking money or taxes.”

Moicano’s title challenge lasted a little more than four minutes, so the 15-year veteran said he’s ready to return to action soon. As for possible opponents, he dismissed a Paddy Pimblett fight as being “too easy” and added he doesn’t feel he’s in position to call for any fights after his loss.

Regardless of the result, Moicano has no regrets about jumping on the late championship opportunity.

“I don’t get mad, but I was kind of surprised with the takes of everybody,” Moicano said. “People say so much dumb stuff, even some people were saying you should not have accepted the fight, you should have fought with Dariush. I say, ‘Man, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know how much money I made. You don’t know how much the opportunity means to me and it’s easy to talk now, after the results it’s easy to say, but it’s not easy, too.

“Imagine, Hunter called me and said, ‘You’re fighting for the title.’ I say, ‘No, you know what? I think Islam is better than me and I think I’m going to lose tomorrow.’ If you think like that, that’s why you’re working a nine-to-five job because you don’t take chances, you don’t take risks, and you know what? You’re going to be a piece of shit for the rest of your life. That’s the f*cking truth.”

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Good on Moicano for jumping on an opportunity that, frankly, he might never have earned the old-fashioned way. Does he do better against Makhachev on a full camp? Who can say? What we do know is he got paid in full, maybe less than he deserved, but it sounds like way more than he ever has before. So overall, he did the smart thing.

Right?

EXIT POLL

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