Lightweight contender Renato Moicano had big plans for his moment on the mic at UFC 311.
The Brazilian fan favorite stepped into his first UFC title shot on 36 hours’ notice. Islam Makhachev was originally booked to defend his 155lb belt against face Arman Tsarukyan, but the Armenian withdrew from the first UFC pay-per-view show of the year after suffering a back injury.
Makhachev ran through his late-replacement opponent in the first round to defend his belt and pound-for-pound number-one status in California on Saturday night.
Renato Moicano did a brief post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, but he didn’t say everything he had planned to with an upset win.
Renato Moicano issues social media statement
On Sunday, Moicano took to social media to react to falling short in his first UFC title fight.
He tweeted: “That’s sucks!!! For now I just want to win my next fight! Thank you UFC for the opportunity! Thank you God for my life!”
‘Money’ followed that post with another detailing his pre-planned victory speech for UFC 311.
A big advocate for Bitcoin, the 35-year-old wanted to dedicate his post-fight interview to cryptocurrency as a safeguard against financial instability.
Moicano added: “I wish I had won yesterday, grabbed the microphone, and told you to read Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money!
“Why money should be a commodity with a floating price dictated by the free market! Why central banks are institutions that, instead of helping the economy, enslave new generations through debt!
“The control of interest rates and quantitative easing are driving global economies toward collapse! This book explains how government took over gold and turned it into this cursed fiat currency! And how governments have been doing this long before they were democratic—scraping gold coins, counterfeiting!
“The first step was to seize real money and then control interest rates! We all know how the story ends: the U.S. government with an almost unpayable debt! History is written by the winners!
“Yesterday I lost and stayed silent. But I will return to say what needs to be said!
“Last year, I fought for money; from now on, I fight for freedom! Study Bitcoin! #MMA #Bitcoin.”
Renato Moicano outearns Islam Makhachev at UFC 311
The California State Athletic Commission has released the official base purses for UFC 311.
These purses do not include sponsorships, bonuses beyond standard win/show deals, and any back-end pay-per-view earnings.
However, at just the base level, Renato Moicano came out on top financially as a result of saving the main event.
$250,000 is what he made, while Makhachev was given just $200,000, although the true numbers are likely to be very different.
Strangely, Makhachev was far from the highest-paid fighter on the card. Multiple undercard competitors were given more in their base salaries, as well as bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili who pocketed $500,000 as a flat rate as well as a $50,000 performance bonus.
Kevin Holland, who was submitted within a round and is now 1-4 in his last five fights, out-earned Makhachev by $50,000. And despite fighting unranked on the prelims, Grant Dawson was also given $212,000 as part of a $106,000/$106,000 winning deal.