Renato Moicano doesn’t want Tom Nolan’s compliments: ‘I’m going to beat your ass’

Ryan Harkness breaks down daily mixed martial arts (MMA) news, providing unique context to stories that only 15 years of obsessing over the sport can provide, having worked for FOX Sports, Yahoo! Sports, UPROXX, MSN, Bleacher Report, HDNet and CagePotato, among others, before joining MMAmania.com in 2017.

Renato Moicano doesn’t want to hear any compliments from upcoming opponent Tom Nolan as they approach their UFC Vegas 123 fight on October 31st inside the Meta Apex.

The 37-year-old Moicano has been a fan favorite for years due to his exciting fight style and brazen personality. That fandom extends to 26-year-old Tom Nolan.

“Fighting a legend and a hero of mine growing up is a cool thing,” Nolan said during a media day appearance. “He’s one of the heroes for sure.”

Moicano took the stage soon after to speak to the press and was asked what he thought of Nolan’s kind words.

“F--k that, Tom Nolan,” Moicano exclaimed. “I’m going to beat your f--king ass, bro. Stop that s--t. I don’t want compliments. I want money.”

Moicano was originally supposed to fight Brian Ortega at UFC 331 in September, but an Ortega injury resulted in him being pushed to Halloween against the tough but relatively unknown Nolan.

“I believe everybody can agree with that that Tom Nolan is more dangerous than Ortega,” Moicano said of the switch. “Ortega is a bigger name, but I think beating Tom Nolan would do better for my record and for my resume.”

While Moicano has talked about testing free agency following the final three fights on his UFC contract, he’s completely focused on the task at hand.

“I need to win otherwise I just get paid half,” he said. “I’m going over there. Try to beat the motherf--ker and keep going. I want to beat Tom Nolan, keep going, get a high-profile opponent,and like I say, I want to see what is next for me.”

It’s by no means a sure thing Moicano will get past Nolan. Bookies have the fight a pick ‘em, and Nolan has lost just one fight in his 12 fight career. This fight will be Moicano’s 30th pro fight, so the experience advantage clearly goes his way. But will his age be his downfall on October 31st?