Renato Moicano: Arman Tsarukyan 'f*cked up' UFC lightweight division

Renato Moicano implied that Arman Tsarukyan being snubbed out of the UFC lightweight title picture is of his own making.

Tsarukyan (23-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) pulled out of his lightweight title fight against Islam Makhachev at UFC 311 in January just a day before the fight. Moicano, who was scheduled to compete on the same night, stepped in against Makhachev, but was quickly submitted.

Tsarukyan was told he needed to fight again before earning another title shot, and the division went various directions since then. Makhachev vacated his belt after submitting Dustin Poirier in June, then Ilia Topuria claimed the vacant belt by knocking out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.

But with Topuria needing personal time off, the UFC opted to match up Justin Gaethje (26-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) and Paddy Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) for the interim belt at UFC 324 on Jan. 24 – even though Tsarukyan is fresh off a dominant submission of Dan Hooker at UFC Fight Night 265. Moicano thinks the way the 155-pound division played out is ridiculous.

"I don't feel that's fair, but we live in a world that's not fair," Moicano said in an interview with "Standemup." "Giving a title shot to Paddy Pimblett is unbelievable. Easy f*cking money. Who did he beat in the division? Michael Chandler coming off four losses? Tony Ferguson, eight losses? Bobby Green coming off three losses? Who he beat in the top 15? Nobody, and he's still getting the title. When I fought Makhachev, Arman was supposed to fight for the title and he f*cked up the division. If Arman fought that night, the division would keep going.

"But now, we have Topuria going through a divorce – he doesn't want to fight. They have Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett. To me, this is going to be a paper champ. That's not an undisputed champ. It doesn't make any sense to do this interim belt because Topuria would be the champion anyways. So, whoever gets the belt now has to face Topuria for the unification of the belts. So to me personally, it doesn't make any sense. The fight should be No. 1 contender, but why UFC did that? Because they solved a lot of problems with that because Justin Gaethje was saying if he didn't get a title shot, he would retire."

Tsarukyan was left stunned after the UFC opted to go with Gaethje and Pimblett for the interim belt. Tsarukyan is ranked No. 1 in the promotion's rankings, while Gaethje and Pimblett are at No. 4 and 5.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Why Renato Moicano says Arman Tsarukyan 'f*cked up' 155-pound division