Outside Source
Renato ‘Moicano’ will look to snap a two-fight skid on Saturday. | Getty/UFC
While Renato Carneiro and Chris Duncan haven’t been all that close in recent years while sharing the gym at American Top Team, that doesn’t make the matchup against a former training partner any easier.
“Moicano” and Duncan will square off in the UFC Vegas 115 main event on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Carneiro recalls training with Duncan in the past — but it was quite some time ago.
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“It is difficult; it is the first time [I’ve faced a teammate],” Carneiro told UFC.com. “But at the same time, everybody wants to win, everybody wants to win their next fight, and that’s what I want too.
“Back in the day, we trained together a couple years ago, but I don’t remember the last time I trained with him; I think it was a long time ago.”
Duncan faced another ATT stablemate, Mateusz Rebecki, last August at UFC on ESPN 71. “The Problem” emerged with a unanimous decision triumph in what turned out to be one of the year’s most entertaining fights. That is the type of fight “Moicano” wants to avoid when he steps into the Octagon with Duncan, who has won six of his seven UFC outings.
“I don’t want to [have a long brawl],” Carneiro said. “I think I’m more technical than him, I think I can do a different fight because Rebecki is small and he always fights like that. He is a dangerous fighter, but I think he’s a guy that is not supposed to be 155 —he’s too short —but he still manages to get good wins, to fight good fights. I think it will be different, but we’ll see.”
No Pressure, Just Love
As for Carneiro, he will be looking to right the ship after the second two-fight skid of his professional career. After suffering a first-round submission defeat in a short-notice lightweight title bout at UFC 311, the Brazilian dropped a three-round verdict to Beneil Dariush at UFC 317 this past June. He was slated to face Brian Ortega at UFC 326 on March 7 before his opponent withdrew. Carneiro says he doesn’t feel any additional pressure to return to the win column on Saturday night.
“Not really —I’m not feeling too much pressure because at the end of the day, I do this because I love it, I love to compete, I love to fight, and I just want to have a good performance for myself,” he said. “Of course, I want to get the double check, and if I can, the triple check, but let’s see.
“I want to make money. I want to beat Chris Duncan and get another fight soon, but I’m not thinking about that. I need to beat Chris Duncan first, and this is a dangerous fight.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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