Renato Moicano agrees to face Rafael dos Anjos in…

Renato Moicano agrees to face Rafael dos Anjos in five-round catchweight bout at UFC 272

Less than a month after his big win at UFC 271, Renato Moicano has agreed to step in for a big opportunity.

With Rafael Fiziev forced to withdraw from Saturday’s co-main event after a positive COVID-19 test, Moicano and Rafael dos Anjos Moicano have agreed to fight each other Saturday at UFC 272 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

MMA Junkie confirmed that verbal agreements are in place after an initial tweet by Moicano’s manager, Oren Hodak, who told MMA Junkie the five-round bout will take place at a 160-pound catchweight, as first reported by MMA Fighting. Moicano is currently in Brazil and will have to fly to the United States.

A perennial contender at 145 pounds, Moicano (16-4-1 MMA, 8-4 UFC) has quickly made an impact since moving up to lightweight, winning three of four fights. After suffering a stoppage loss to Rafael Fiziev, the 32-year-old Brazilian notched back-to-back second-round submissions of Jai Herbert and most recently Alexander Hernandez at UFC 271 this past February. He delivered an impactful post-fight interview after defeating Hernandez, asking for big checks and big money. Moicano put his hand up to step in against dos Anjos (30-13 MMA, 19-11 UFC), and the rising contender got his wish.

Let’s fucking go https://t.co/UtaO844nPA

— Renato Moicano UFC (@moicanoufc) February 28, 2022

After losing four of his past five at welterweight, former UFC lightweight champion dos Anjos returned to his original home and edged out short-notice replacement Paul Felder in the main event of UFC Fight Night 182 in November 2020. Dos Anjos was then rebooked against Islam Makhachev at UFC 267 this past October, but the matchup fell apart again when he was forced to withdraw due to injury.

With the change, the UFC 272 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD