Renato Moicano may not have left The City of Angels with UFC gold, but he left with a big fat check in his pocket.
Originally, ‘Money’ was scheduled to square off with Beneil Dariush at UFC 311 in Los Angeles. However, things quickly changed for the Brazilian fan favorite when Arman Tsarukyan revealed that he would not be able to compete in the evening’s headliner against lightweight champion Islam Makhachev due to a back injury.
Moicano was then thrust from the main card to the main event, giving him an opportunity of a lifetime.
Islam Makhachev vs Renato Moicano full final sequence from UFC 311 pic.twitter.com/ry1yjARqY8
— AlAudhli العوذلي ™ (@alaudhli) January 20, 2025
Unfortunately, Moicano fell short against the ‘Dagestani Destroyer,’ succumbing to a d’arce choke in the opening round, but it sounds like the top-ten-ranked lightweight walked away with a big chunk of change for stepping up to the plate and fighting Makhachev on less than 48 hours notice.
Speaking about the fight on his Show Me The Money podcast, Moicano revealed that he’d made over $950,000 for his first title fight.
“I got a nice check,” Moicano told his podcast partner Gilbert Burns. “What do you think?”
Burns began comparing Bitcoin numbers to try to guess what ‘Money’ made before asking if it was $950,000. Moicano simply said, “Over.”
Renato Moicano reveals that he made over $950,000 for his fight against Islam Makhachev at #UFC311 🤑
He also says that the fight sold even more PPVs after Arman Tsarukyan pulled out
🎥 @showmethepod #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/nYt7gAzRp3
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) January 23, 2025
Renato Moicano Says His Insertion into the UFC 311 Main Event Helped Sell More PPVs
Moicano’s disclosed payout according to the California State Athletic Commission was $250,000, though those numbers often don’t include certain performance and backstage bonuses.
According to Moicano, the UFC 311 pay-per-view got a nice bump in buys after it was announced that he’d be stepping in to replace Tsarukyan.
“Somebody told me that after Arman pulled out, [UFC] sold even more pay-per-views because everyone was excited,” Moicano said. “Of course, it was something different, right? You don’t see that many times.”
Official numbers for UFC 311 have not yet been revealed, but the event did set the record for the highest-grossing MMA event in California history with a reported $10.2 million gate and a sold-out crowd of 18,370.
Check out Moicano’s UFC 311 post-fight interview below:
