Renato Moicano protests Jose Aldo stoppage

Last weekend, in the co-main event of the exciting UFC Fortaleza card, streaking featherweight contender Renato Moicano took on one of the toughest challenges of his impressive career as he battled former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo Jr.

Unfortunately for Moicano and his growing fanbase, Aldo proved to be a bit too much too soon. The former champ won the fight by standing TKO in the second round.

Speaking on Instagram post-fight, Renato Moicano opened up on this loss to Jose Aldo, and divulged that he did not agree with the stoppage.

“I came here to say I’m alright,” Moicano said in the video (via my MMA News). “The fight was stopped by technical knockout, but in my opinion the referee stopped it a bit early. But it’s okay, life goes on.

“I was doing good, I think I won the first round and came back more active in the second round. I don’t remember the strike, I didn’t see the strike that started that explosion, and I think the referee stopped it a bit early.”

While Renato Moicano didn’t love the referee’s choice to stop the fight when he did, he seems to be in good spirits, and ready to get back to the drawing board.

Interestingly, Jose Aldo seems to have huge respect for his vanquished foe, explaining at the post-fight press conference that he hopes Moicano becomes a champion in the future.

“We need the new generation,” Aldo said. “We need new athletes in my division, too. I always dreamed of having a total domination of Brazil in the division and I lost that so I want to give him the strength for that. So now it is in the past and I hope that he keeps going.”

“He’s got his talent and he’s got his skills and he’s got a great future ahead of him,” he added. “He needs to believe in his team and hopefully he can fight for the title one day and become the champion.”

What did you think of the stoppage in the Jose Aldo vs. Renato Moicano fight at UFC Fortaleza?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 2/4/2019.