😅 Renato Moicano explains the origin of his name “Moicano”.
“I used to have a Mohawk, and Moicano means Mohawk. So when I started training BJJ, people had nicknames for me, and they started calling me Moicano because of my hair.” pic.twitter.com/HuVXJ9KEHD
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight)
September 23, 2024
Renato Carneiro recently revealed the origins of the nickname.
Carneiro says “Moicano” is not his real name, which is a common misconception in the MMA world. According to the Brazilian, “Moicano” means Mohawk, a hairstyle he had as a child when he started training in BJJ. Since it’s a tradition in BJJ to give everyone a nickname, Carneiro was given the name “Moicano” based on his hairstyle. And it stuck with him, and his father also started calling him by the same nickname.
“Everyone [it’s my real name]”But it’s my nickname,” Carneiro recently told Home of Fight. “I used to have a mohawk. ‘Moicano’ means mohawk. So when I started training BJJ, I had nicknames for everybody, and they started calling me ‘Moicano’ because of the hair. But I was 10 or 11 years old, so from then on, everybody started calling me ‘Moicano,’ even my dad.”
When asked what happened to his Mohawk, the 35-year-old admitted: “Too bald, bro.”
Moicano is scheduled to face Frenchman Benoit St. Denis on Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 243 at the Accor Arena in Paris. “Moicano” hurt Jalin Turner with a walk-off KO attempt in his most recent bout at UFC 300 in April of this year. Turner was unable to stop the bout and attempted a walk-off after taking down Carneiro early on. The Brazilian made it to the next round and came back to score a technical knockout to extend his winning streak to three.
Meanwhile, St. Dennis rattled off five straight wins after an unsuccessful UFC debut against Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos in 2021. But “God of War” had his hopes dashed when he suffered a knockout loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 299 in March of this year.
