Renato “Money Moicano” Carneiro will bring plenty of momentum to his showdown with Beneil Dariush at UFC 311.
The Brazilian standout has won his last four appearances inside the Octagon, coming off a second-round stoppage of Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC Paris in September of this year. Although he has already achieved much success, Darish will be Carneiro’s most important victory to date.
“St. Dennis was a good grappler too, but I believe Darish is better, so I believe the fight will take place on the ground,” Moicano recently told Sherdog.com. He avoided predicting a clear method of victory.
“I’ll either knock him out, submit him or win by decision. I don’t know. I’m going to leave the Octagon with another win because I believe I’m in a great position.”
American Top Team representatives also don’t have a call-up in mind should his hand be raised Saturday night at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
“I don’t care about the name,” he said. “I want a fight that brings more economic benefits. “Moicano” wants money. ”
There are a lot of talented grapplers in the lightweight division, and Carneiro, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, singled out the top of the division when choosing who he feels is the best.
“The concept of grappling is pretty broad,” Carneiro said. “But when it comes to MMA and the final fight between lightweights, it has to be Islamic.” [Makhachev]Charles [Oliveira] and [Arman]
Tsarukyan. If Khabib were still active, I would put him number one. ”
Tsarukyan, another ATT fighter, will challenge Makhachev for lightweight gold in the UFC 311 headliner. Although the two come from the same gym, Carneiro revealed that he did not work with Tsarukyan this time.
“We trained a long time ago, but not this time,” he said. “But I got to see him spar a lot and I knew he was in great shape.”
But Carneiro stopped short of giving the nod to his ATT stablemate Makhachev.
“Tsarukyan is well prepared, but unfortunately Islam is bigger, heavier and has better wrestling skills, so I think he is the favorite,” Carneiro said. “But in a five-round MMA fight, anything can happen. Armand has done his homework, is in great shape and could surprise the champion.”
