UFC 331 loses main card bout days before event; one fighter gets future main event

UFC 331 has lost a main card fight.

Brian Ortega is out of his scheduled bout vs. Renato Moicano due to injury and will not be replaced, the promotion announced Monday, just five days before Saturday's event at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Instead, Moicano (21-7-1 MMA, 13-7 UFC) will now headline UFC Fight Night 292 vs. Tom Nolan (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC). The event takes place Oct. 31 at Meta APEX in Las Vegas.

No official injury was revealed for Ortega (16-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC), however an Instagram story posted Sunday by Christian rapper Lecrae showed the UFC contender sporting what appeared to be some fairly significant damage around his left eye area.

The change marks the second time Ortega vs. Moicano 2 has been canceled in 2026. It was initially scheduled for March and Ortega withdrew due to injury. Moicano then fought Chris Duncan, who he submitted in Round 2.

A rising young contender, Australia's Nolan gets his first UFC headliner. The 26-year-old has won five fights in a row, most recently defeating Fares Ziam by unanimous decision in June.

With the change, the UFC 331 lineup includes:

• Champ Joshua Van vs. Alexandre Pantoja – for flyweight title

• Mauricio Ruffy vs. Arman Tsarukyan

• Dooho Choi vs. Patricio Freire

• Iwo Baraniewski vs. Alonzo Menifield

• Sean Sharaf vs. Gable Steveson

• Charles Jourdain vs. Marlon Vera

• Robelis Despaigne vs. Tai Tuivasa

• Michael Aswell vs. JooSang Yoo

• Ryan Gandra vs. Ozzy Diaz

• Brunno Ferreira vs. Edmen Shahbazyan

• Eduarda Moura vs. Casey O'Neill

• Joanderson Brito vs. Giga Chikadze

With the addition, the UFC Vegas 123 lineup includes:

• Renato Moicano vs. Tom Nolan

• Luana Santos vs. Yana Santos

• Julian Erosa vs. Jeong Yeong Lee

• Gaston Bolanos vs. Francis Marshall

• Azamat Bekoev vs. Andre Petroski

• Tainara Lisboa vs. Lucia Szabova

• Nick Klein vs. Joe Kropschot

• Farman Hasanov vs. John-Paul Lebosnoyani

• Theodor Berggren vs. Rodrigo Sezinando

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 331 loses main card bout days before event; one fighter gets future main event