Renato Moicano | Jeff Bottari, Zuffa LLC Alexander K. Lee Sat, October 31, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC · 7 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Renato Moicano, they're coming for you again.
In April, it was Chris Duncan on a four-fight win streak looking to take Moicano's spot in the rankings, but Moicano sent him packing; tonight, in the UFC Vegas 123 main event, Tom Nolan gets his chance to face Moicano, potentially tie Arman Tsarukyan and Quillan Salkilld for the longest current UFC win streak (6) at 155 pounds, and maybe wake up Tuesday morning with a single digit next to his name.
Duncan wasn't the first aspiring contender to fall to Moicano. Benoit Saint Denis, Jalin Turner, and Alexander Hernandez are just a handful of other examples who thought "Money" was their ticket to another level of prestige, only to end up being finished by the 16-year veteran. At 26, Nolan has much to gain and little to lose as he's sure to keep getting opportunities no matter Saturday's' result, but he can supercharge his run to the top with an impressive outing in his first-ever UFC headliner.
In other main card action, Randy Brown fights undefeated welterweight prospect Jacobe Smith (stepping in on less than two weeks' notice for an injured Carlos Leal), Ode Osbourne and Cody Durden meet in a flyweight grudge match, bantamweight contenders Yana Santos and Luana Santos battle for Santos supremacy, and welterweights Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani and Farman Hasanov lead off.
When: Saturday, Oct. 31. The seven-fight early preliminary card begins at 5 p.m. ET, followed by a five-fight main card at 8 p.m. ET. The entire event streams live on Paramount+.
(Numbers in parentheses indicate standing in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings )
This main event could get nasty and gnarly if it goes into the later rounds.
Renato Moicano will undoubtedly be looking to win this one early and snag a Performance of the Night bonus. He's long recognized that he gets paid the same whether it's for a one-round explosion or a five-round war, as long as he has his hand raised at the end. Look for him to eschew any sort of feeling-out process and take the fight right to the younger Nolan.
I also have questions about Moicano's gas tank should this become a back-and-forth struggle as opposed to one-sided domination. Tom Nolan is a strong wrestler and if he's able to frustrate Moicano with a few well-timed takedowns and low-risk top control, that could pay off big past the 15-minute mark; then again, Nolan has never had to fight past five rounds, so there's no guarantee he can simply outlast Moicano, especially if Moicano is dinging him up on the feet to that point.
Nolan needs to wear Moicano down and push him to the point that every exchange is a reminder of how much wear-and-tear Moicano has on his body. It doesn't have to be pretty, just effective. It might be too soon to place Nolan at the same level as some of the other blue-chip contenders in the lightweight division, but I do think he makes the most of winning the Moicano sweepstakes.
There's good reason to be concerned for Jacobe Smith here, with him taking this fight against Randy Brown on short notice and making a huge jump up in competition. I'm comfortable betting that most of you couldn't name Smith's past two opponents, who he finished in a combined time of 4:32. Brown is a gatekeeper at 170 pounds and he's gone the distance with a number of tough welterweights.
Smith isn't your average prospect, though. A late bloomer who didn't turn pro until 2021, Smith has talent for days and though he's had a few predictably shaky moments to start his UFC career, he's capable of producing truly stunning bursts of offense along with brutal ground-and-pound. Patience is one of Smith's greatest strengths and it will help him balance when to go in against the capable Brown and when to let Brown come to him.
Brown's range could also give Smith a problems as "Cobe" is yet to face a tall fighter that knows how to make the most of their gifts. We could see wrestler Smith right out the gate if his intention is to throw Brown for a loop. On the ground, Smith will find openings to do damage, but Brown can also be dangerous off of his back.
Smith is a significant favorite here for a reason and I see him trading punches with Brown before getting a much-needed takedown and cracking the chin of the battle-worn "Rudeboy."
I'm not the first person to bring this up, but it has to be mentioned: This isn't exactly a clash of the titans. Ode Osbourne enters this main card bout (wait, why is this on the main card?) in a 1-4 slump—not including a unanimous decision loss to Alibi Idiris that was overturned to a no-contest when Idiris failed a drug test—while Durden is 1-5 in his past six. These two were supposed to fight at UFC 329 in July, so I guess we have to close this loop, especially since theres's legit heat there, but yikes.
On a positive note, these guys tend to be in fun fights even if they're the nail more often than the hammer, so maybe that's why this matchup earned a final five spot. Osbourne has always struck me as having a higher upside when he's on, but Durden is such a grinder, so if this fight stretches on you can see him wearing Osbourne down.
When in doubt, root for fun, which sounds like an Osbourne knockout win to me. After a heated opening round, Osbourne finds Durden's chin and shuts his lights off.
It's time for some Santos on Santos crime.
OK, that's probably overhyping the amount of meaningful offense we're going to see here, especially if this turns out to be more of a Luana fight than a Yana fight. In Luana's past three outings—all victories, by the way—she's been credited with a total of 36 significant strikes.
In fairness, that includes a submission over Tainara Lisboa that she wrapped up with a second remaining in Round 2, so Luana certainly knows how to finish, but as she's faced better competition, she's rarely tried to. Her decision nods over Karol Rosa and Melissa Croden are about as anti-action as you can get.
On the other side you have Yana, who often goes overlooked because she does her best to rack up strikes while spending much of her fights fending off takedowns. That's pretty much how the story will go Saturday.
Respectfully, nothing Luana does wows you, but her grappling is effective. She manages her cardio well, has a dogged approach once she has her arms locked, and loves a sneaky trip. Make one mistake against her and you're spending the next three or four minutes stuck in neutral.
I don't know if Yana can avoid that fate. I hope, for the sake of our eyeballs, that she can. But I don't know.
Farman Hasanov didn't exactly thrill in his UFC debut, winning a clear-cut decision over Eric Nolan, but looking flat-out exhausted as the final seconds ticked away. His wrestling-heavy style can certainly win him some fights, but given what happened to Farid Basharat (and on the opposite spectrum, Michael Page), he's probably on thin ice and I'm a little surprised he's being trusted to kick off the show here.
Perhaps the matchmakers expect Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani to run through him and give them an excuse to let Hasanov go? Sorry, that's a cynical way of looking at things. Rather, the well-rounded Lebosnoyani presents a stiff challenge to Hasanov's more single-minded approach. Neat.
Hasanov could wrestle his way to another win, but the unpredictable and aggressive Lebosnoyani won't let him get away with just spamming takedowns. He'll let Hasanov empty the gas tank and then finish him in the second.
Source: Sports
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