Due to an injury, Brian Ortega is no longer fighting this Saturday at UFC 331 against Renato Moicano in the lightweight division. The UFC announced the withdrawal on its socials. Moicano already has a new fight booked.
The Brazilian fighter will take on Tom Nolan on October 31 in the Meta Apex in Las Vegas. The fight will be the main event that evening. For Nolan, it will be his first main event in the UFC. His opponent, Moicano, will fight for the fourth time in a headliner for the promotion.
[ LIVE OCT 31 on @ParamountPlus ]
Another Headliner For Moicano
Renato Moicano was supposed to fight on Saturday, but he has to postpone his comeback for six more weeks. The Brazilian fighter was matched up with Brian Ortega in a rematch, but as earlier stated, the American fighter pulled out with an injury. Now he takes on Tom Nolan in Las Vegas. Between 2022 and 2024, Moicano put together an impressive four-fight winning streak. In the beginning of 2025, he was supposed to fight Beneil Dariush, but after an injury to title challenger Arman Tsarukyan, he got promoted to the main event to take on then-champion Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title.
Moicano lost in the first round and got booked against Dariush a couple of months later. He also lost that fight and had to win earlier this year in the main event against Chris Duncan to keep the top of the division in sight. Moicano fought an amazing fight and beat Duncan via neck crank submission in the second round. Unfortunately for the Brazilian fighter, he doesn’t fight on Saturday, but the UFC compensated him with another main event slot.
A Big Opportunity
For Tom Nolan, the fight against Moicano is a big opportunity to rise in the lightweight rankings. An unexpected opportunity, but definitely a deserved one. After defeating Bogdan Grad in 2023 during the Dana White’s Contender Series, Nolan brought some big expectations with him in his UFC debut in early 2024. Nolan got finished early in the first round by Nikolas Motta by TKO. The hype around Nolan went down, but his rise to the top just started.
Nolan closed his debut year with wins over Victor Martinez and Alex Reyes. In 2025, he kept on going with wins over Viacheslav Borshchev and a finish over Charlie Campbell. With four wins in a row, Nolan got an opportunity to take on Farès Ziam. The Australian fighter had the perfect game plan and won via unanimous decision. The win put Nolan in the top 15 of the lightweight division. Now he gets the opportunity to take on former title challenger Renato Moicano.
UFC Vegas 123 – (October 31st)
- Renato Moicano vs. Tom Nolan
- Yana Santos vs. Luana Santos
- Julian Erosa vs. JeongYeong Lee
- Andre Petroski vs. Azamat Bekoev
- Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani vs. Farman Hasanov
- Francis Marshall vs. Gastón Bolaños
- Tainara Lisboa vs. Lucia Szabová
- Nick Klein vs. Joe Kropschot
- Rodrigo Sezinando vs. Theodor Berggren
UFC 331 Loses Main Card Fight, Fighter Books Headliner