Renato Moicano will hope to maintain his lofty place in the UFC Lightweight rankings this weekend as he takes on replacement fighter Tom Nolan at UFC Fight Night in the Meta Apex Arena on Sunday morning.
Main card to commence at 2am (CAT, GMT+2).
Moicano (21-7-1) will head into this weekend’s fight festivities as a former Lightweight contender, as he occupies eighth place on the promotion’s rankings list. Nolan (11-1-0) on the other hand, is riding the wave of momentum as he eyes a top 10 spot from 12th position.
The 37-year-old Brazilian last saw out a submission win over Chris Duncan at UFC Fight Night: Moicano v Duncan in April, as he returned to winning ways after consecutive defeats to Beneil Dariush and Islam Makhachev.
Moicano will now feature in his second main event this year, while Nolan won each of his last five fights. The Australian came in as a replacement for Brian Ortega, and is on the back of wins against Fares Ziam, Charlie Campbell, Viacheslav Borschev, Alex Reyes and Victor Martinez respectively.
Speaking ahead of the fight, Moicano noted that he needed to make crucial adjustments to his preparations after Ortega pulled out and that he is more than ready for his taller opponent.
"It was a great training camp for me. I was ready when Ortega pulled out, but I needed to do some adjustments for Tom Nolan, especially because he's so tall and way better striker than Brian Ortega," Moicano said.
"So, I focused my training camp on that: on the strategy, on what should I do. So, I spent a whole part of my camp doing the adjustments from the Ortega fight to Tom Nolan, and here am I. I'm ready."
The co-main event will likewise face a short-notice alteration, as Randy Brown and Jacobe Smith battle in the Welterweight division.
Brown thus looks to re-enter the winning column after losses to Kevin Holland and Gabriel Bonfim in his last two fights while recording a spectacular round one win over Bruce Whitehead at UFC332 earlier this month.
UFC FIGHT NIGHT MAIN CARD
Renato Moicano v Tom Nolan (Main event – Lightweight)
Randy Brown v Jacobe Smith (Co-main – Welterweight)
Ode’ Osbourne vvs Cody Durden (Flyweight)
Yana Santos v Luana Santos (Women’s Bantamweight)
Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani v Farman Hasanov (Welterweight)