Renato Moicano thinks Muhammad Mokaev would have created more buzz than Steve Erceg as a UFC title challenger.
Despite Mokaev having more experience in the octagon, flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja (27-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) wound up drawing Erceg (12-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 301 (Pay-per-view/ESPN/ESPN+) headliner at Rio Arena in Rio de Janeiro.
Moicano, who’s good friends and American Top Team teammates with Pantoja, thinks Erceg isn’t a big enough name to draw viewers in after being in the UFC for only a year.
“I am a friend with Pantoja,” Moicano said on the “MIGHTYcast” podcast with Demetrious Johnson. “He’s my boy. I like him a lot. Hard worker, dedicated guy, always in the gym, but I didn’t like this fight at all. This guy (Erceg), he’s dangerous but only three fights in the UFC. Nobody knows who he is. He’s not going to sell any pay-per-views. I think Pantoja wanted bad to fight in Brazil because it’s his home, right?
“But I don’t think it was very smart in the business side. People don’t realize how this is a business, right? We need to create a story behind the fights. Like Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington, they got bigger because of the beef. UFC profited off that, they profited off that. If you see Pantoja fighting another guy that nobody knows, I don’t think it’s good for the show. In my book, Pantoja is better than him everywhere.”
Erceg and Mokaev (11-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) both most recently fought at UFC Fight Night 238 in March. Erceg knocked out Matt Schnell, and Mokaev outgrappled former title challenger Alex Perez. Although Erceg had the more exciting performance, Moicano thinks Mokaev vs. Pantoja is a bigger fight.
“I’m not really excited to watch the fight,” Moicano said. “I would like to watch Pantoja against Mokaev. I know a lot of people give trash to Mokaev because he had a tough fight against Perez, but I think he would sell the fight more.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 301.
