Renato Moicano Reveals New Opponent and Fight Date After Brian Ortega’s Injury Pullout

Renato Moicano’s future once again hung in the balance after Brian Ortega withdrew from their scheduled bout for the second time. Ahead of UFC 331, ‘T-City’ pulled out of the bout after suffering a laceration over his eye in training, that left the Brazilian without an opponent at this weekend’s marquee event. But instead of finding a replacement, the promotion decided to shift Moicano to a completely different event against a new opponent.

In an interview with Ariel Helwani, Moicano disclosed that UFC CBO Hunter Campbell reached out to him after Brian Ortega pulled out from UFC 331 and offered him a main event spot at the October 31 Apex Fight Night event at UFC Apex against Tom Nolan.

“They were like, Hunter called me, and he said, ‘Hey, Ortega is out. What do you want to do?’” Moicano revealed. “And I said, ‘Let me think about it.’ And I thought, and I said, ‘Okay, maybe I can be on the card, but maybe I’m gonna have to face somebody that doesn’t have a name.’ Because nobody with a name and that was favorable is gonna take the fight on a week’s notice. You know what I mean?”

“So I called Hunter, and I said, ‘Hey, I don’t really fight anybody else on Saturday. Let’s try to find somebody on UFC 333.’ And I think that would be nice. And then he said, ‘Tom Nolan.’ And I said, ‘Okay, let’s go. Tom Nolan, UFC October 31.’”

UFC announced the October 31 Fight Night event during Dana White’s Contender Series season 10, week 3. At first, UFC revealed a couple of feature fights for the Fight Night card. But the promotion refrained from disclosing the headliner bout. In that case, Moicano vs. Nolan definitely filled that vacant spot. However, this isn’t the first time ‘Money’ has been shifted from a marquee card to a Fight Night main event.

After Ortega pulled out for the first time from their rematch at UFC 326, the UFC shifted Moicano to face fellow American Top Team fighter Chris Duncan at the main event of UFC Vegas 115 on April 4. The Brazilian defeated Duncan via second-round rear-naked choke.

Shifting a fighter from a marquee event and elevating him to a Fight Night card’s main attraction definitely isn’t something that happens regularly in the UFC. But when push comes to shove, the promotion has shown that it is willing to make the crucial call.

For instance, after Asu Almabayev withdrew from the UFC Mexico main event against Brandon Moreno on February 28 due to injury, the UFC replaced him with Lone’er Kavanaugh, who was scheduled to fight Bruno Silva at UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs. Vallejos on March 14. Surprisingly, the young Englishman delivered a career-best performance, beating the former champion at the Mexico event.

However, after Renato Moicano is scheduled to face a different opponent, he believes his next challenge is much tougher than Brian Ortega.

Moicano definitely seems to be happy about headlining another Fight Night card. But he firmly believes Ortega could’ve been an easier “money” challenge for him than Tom Nolan.

“Yes, 100%. Brian Ortega, he is not in a good place mentally,” Moicano added. “And I think that would be an easy fight, to be honest. You know, my f—g pockets. So that would be easy. Tom Nolan would be harder, but it is what it is, you know?”

To be fair, Brian Ortega’s career is in a very lackluster period. The former featherweight title challenger is looking for a win since defeating Yair Rodriguez in 2024. He also dropped two fights against Diego Lopes and Aljamain Sterling. Plus, Ortega’s string of injuries and illnesses has raised doubts over the 35-year-old’s future in the promotion.

On the other hand, Tom Nolan is currently on a five-fight winning streak in the lightweight division, and he recently defeated surging contender Fares Ziam. So, Nolan is definitely riding strong momentum. Against Moicano, the Aussie would have the chance to grab his No. 8-ranked spot in the 155-pound rankings, and that stake is expected to make Nolan fight even hungrier.

That said, it would be interesting to see whether Renato Moicano can pull off another highlight-reel win against a new opponent or Nolan beats a seasoned contender on October 31. As for Ortega, the road definitely looks bumpy for his comeback.