Being a part of the American Top Team gym certainly comes with some bonuses. One of them was the chance to train with strong and established mixed martial artists. Well, the case was the same for Renato Moicano. With just 17 days left to his showdown against Beneil Dariush at UFC 311, ‘Money Moicano’ sought out Dustin Poirier’s help to prepare for the big fight. Although ‘The Diamond’ was never interested in fighting Dariush himself, he didn’t back down from helping his teammate prepare for his fight.

And that’s exactly how Poirier and Moicano stepped into the new year. Taking to Instagram, the former interim lightweight champion shared a picture of himself posing alongside Moicano. In the captions, ‘The Diamond’ wrote, “Starting the new year off right getting beat up by the money man!” Being beaten up by a teammate who confessed to never wanting to fight him is the greatest irony, don’t you think?

Moicano didn’t waste a single moment to swoop to the comments section to express his gratitude. After all, finding a training partner like Poirier, who fought in the same weight class was a nigh-on impossible task. But thanks to the ATT gym, ‘Money Moicano’ found all the help that he needed to get ready to fight Dariush. He responded to the Cajun fighter and wrote, “Thank you for the help my brother.”

But having a teammate competing in the same organization and in the same weight category came with its own set of problems. The most worrying problem was having to fight one’s own teammate. It’s always been iron sharpening iron at ATT. If you think back to what happened last year around this time, Mateusz Gamrot, another lightweight, was helping Poirier prepare for Benoit Saint-Denis. So what does that mean if it comes to a point where these ATT stars end up having to fight each other in the Octagon?

How does Renato Moicano feel about getting to fight Dustin Poirier?

The relationship that Moicano and Poirier carry is indeed one of the purest forms of brotherhood. Even though Moicano was ready to smash Dustin Poirier in training, would he actually take him up in the Octagon? Well, that’s exactly what the famed MMA reporter, Ariel Helwani, asked ‘Money Moicano’ during a conversation on The Ariel Helwani Show, back in November 2024. Of course, the #10 lightweight contender wasn’t ready to fight his teammate. 

Moicano answered, “No, he’s my teammate and not only that, what’s the point of going in a fight that I know I’m going to lose? I train with him all the time. What’s the point of signing the contract [for] a fight [with] a guy that beats me up in the gym? So, there is no point on that.”

‘Money Moicano’ was pretty confident about winning every single fight in the lightweight division. He considered himself to be the very best fighter in his weight class. However, when it came to fighting ‘The Diamond’, he’d have to back down. He continued, “I can beat anybody, I just cannot beat Dustin Poirier. The rest, I can beat everybody in this division.”

Well, getting to spar with Poirier seemed more than enough for Moicano. But now, he kept his focus on getting ready to lock horns with Dariush. Would Poirier’s help come in handy during the bout? That’s something that only time has the power to tell. But who would win between Moicano and Dariush? Drop down to the comments below and let us know what you think.