Renato Moicano went into his main event bout with Benoit Saint Denis at UFC Paris with a severely injured shoulder, an ailment the featherweight revealed at his post-fight press conference appearance.
Veteran combat sports journalist Kevin Iole posted x-ray photos of the shoulder showing how bad the injury really is.
Incredible toughness! @mocainoufc fought second round of fight with severely damaged shoulder #ufcparis pic.twitter.com/DyyjUOmbTS
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) September 29, 2024
Moicano (20-5-1) reacted to the photos on X saying he suffered the injury three weeks prior to the fight, thanking his team for helping him prepare nonetheless.
I hurt my shoulder 3 weeks ago… but I couldn’t pull out of a main event… thank you my team for helping me training like that e get me ready for the fight #ufcparis #att https://t.co/V5rExjLHQM
— Renato Moicano UFC (@moicanoufc) September 29, 2024
“I hurt my shoulder 3 weeks ago… but I couldn’t pull out of a main event… thank you my team for helping me training like that e (sic) get me ready for the fight.”
MMAJunkie acquired photos from Moicano’s manager showing more of the shoulder.
Here’s another angle of Renato Moicano’s shoulder from the time of the injury, per his manager @ko_reps.
Moicano somehow 10-8’d Benoit Saint Denis and beat him via doctor stoppage at #UFCParis. pic.twitter.com/CAGuBTTzXK
— Nolan King (@mma_kings) September 29, 2024
Regardless of the injury Moicano pushed to stay in the fight and his team worked with him to train in a way that they would not make the injury worse. During the fight fans online began to talk about his shoulder looking damaged.
The injury makes what Moicano did in the fight even more remarkable given that he landed so much damage on Saint Denis that the doctor stopped the fight…because Saint Denis could not continue.
In his post-fight interview and press conference Moicano continued his call outs of England’s Paddy Pimblett and New Zealand talent Dan Hooker.
No word on how long UFC lightweight Renato Moicano will be out with the shoulder injury.
