Renato Moicano: UFC champ Ilia Topuria 'very small' for lightweight

Renato Moicano advises UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria against moving up to lightweight.

After back-to-back knockouts of Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, Topuria recently hinted at a move up to 155 pounds. Topuria made his successful lightweight debut in March 2022 when he knocked out Jai Herbert but wound up dropping back down to featherweight to make his successful title run.

Moicano (20-5-1 MMA, 12-5 UFC), who’s won four fights in a row, sees Topuria’s power translating to lightweight. However, stylistically, he expects his size and grappling to give him problems.

“To be honest, I think he would knock out a lot of people,” Moicano said of Topuria on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “He is very good. I think he is very good, but in my defense, I think I would finish him because I’m not a striker, I’m a grappler. If I get his back, I can finish him 100 percent.

“But if you try to strike against him, he is a solid striker. The fight against Max Holloway was just incredible. The guy is good. But to be honest, too, I think he’s very small for the division. I don’t know. I think he should stay at 145. … Easy money, I’m going to show you 155.”

Moicano returns Jan. 18 when he takes on Beneil Dariush (22-6-1 MMA, 16-6-1 UFC) in a lightweight bout at UFC 311 from Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.