LAS VEGAS -- Renato Moicano had more than 10 minutes of control time in his lightweight bout with Drew Dober Saturday at Apex, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total bout time, and used that to pull off a unanimous decision victory in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 85.
It was a good, though not great, fight, and the scores of 29-28 on all three cards were appropriate.
This was one of those bouts where the fight itself was the appetizer to the good things to come. ESPN's Daniel Cormier, the former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, climbed into the Octagon to interview Moicano after ring announcer Bruce Buffer read the scores.
Cormier said, "I'm here with Renato Moicano," and he might as well have left at that point because Moicano was ready to roll and he had no use for questions about the fight.
Cormier might have asked Moicano about his three takedowns that led to 10 minutes, 33 seconds of control time which largely neutralized Dober's punching power. Dober is the leader among UFC lightweights in KOs with nine but he spent too much of the fight on his back to land the haymaker he needed.
If Cormier was going to ask Moicano how he did it, he never got the chance because once Cormier stuck the mic in the Brazilian's direction, he was off to the races.
"You're here f*cking again?" Moicano asked Cormier joking. "I love you mother f*cker."
Moicano then looked into the camera and took off.
"My father is 62 years old and he had a baby yesterday," Moicano said. "So, tomorrow when I get home, I'm going to get my wife pregnant another time, because if my f*cking father, 62 years old, can populate the world, I can, too. Moicano number three is coming."
Cormier tried to gain control of the interview by noting his genetics but there was no stopping Moicano in this moment, on that stage. And so Cormier gave up and for a few minutes, turned the show over to the guy who dubbed himself 'Money.'
Moicano trains at the American Top Team in Florida, but he began to express concerns for the country.
"Another thing: I love this f*cking America, you know?" Moicano said. "I am not American but my green card is three years and in two years, I'll be a f*cking American. When I'm done with fighting, I will serve on the police force. I want to be on the SWAT team and I want to f*cking kill the bad guys. Make no mistake, there is right and there is f*cking wrong. People are forgetting about that. People are going crazy. That's why I want to have more kids. I want people to go to the church. They want people to respect the f*cking love.
"Otherwise, this great country is going to be a third-world country. ... Something's f*cking wrong in America and I want to fix it right now"
He then pitched his YouTube channel -- before taking a shot at the person who runs a popular channel, MMA Guru. The guru apparently made the mistake of picking Dober to defeat Moicano on Saturday, and it did not escape 'Money's' notice.
Moicano hadn't fought since a win over Brad Riddell at UFC 281 on Nov. 13, 2022.
"Hey, MMA Guru, you f*cking pig!" Moicano shouted. "You said I would get slapped by the Drew Dober. [I was] almost one year without a fight (he was actually nearly 14 months without a fight] and I schooled this mother f*cker."
And he schooled his peers on how to do a post-fight interview. The place was in tears as those at Apex were roaring at just about everything he said, and it helped when the main event between Roman Dolidze and Nassourdine Imavov was flat-out God awful and nearly impossible to watch. The most action came after Imavov fouled Dolidze and then nearly got into it with Chris Curtis, who was in Dolidze's corner.
Imavov won a majority decision that is best forgotten, or it will set back interest in MMA.
Moicano, though, was there to save the day. And you can guarantee this: They'll forget Dolidze-Imavov, but they'll never forget the show that Money Moicano put on after beating Drew Dober. That one is going to live on in UFC lore.