Fan-favorite UFC lightweight Renato Moicano is all set to return against Tom Nolan on October 31, 2026, as the headliner of the UFC Vegas 123 Fight Night event. However, with only 28 days remaining before the event, the card suffered its first cancellation, with a veteran withdrawing from the scheduled bout.
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According to Brazilian outlet AG Fight, 23-7 veteran Carlos Leal was forced to pull out of his bout against Randy Brown due to an undisclosed injury.
“BREAKING! Carlos Leal is out of the fight against Randy Brown due to an injury,” the outlet posted on X.
As of now, no other bouts have been announced for the UFC Vegas 123 event. That makes the matchup between Carlos Leal and Randy Brown the first canceled fight of the Moicano-headlined card.
BREAKING! Carlos Leal está fora da luta contra Randy Brown por conta de uma lesão
Neither Leal nor his team disclosed the nature of the injury. However, he previously suffered a setback in his last fight against Chidi Njokuani at UFC Houston in February 2026.
Leal fractured his hand in the second round against Njokuani, but he still chose to give it everything because it was the last fight on his contract. After a grueling battle, the 32-year-old ultimately secured a unanimous decision victory.
“I knew that my future depended on my performance, so I entered that Octagon thinking, no matter what happens, I can bleed, break myself, but I will keep moving forward in search of the knockout,” Leal told Sherdog.com. “It was right at the beginning of the second round. I was sure I had broken it when I landed a second punch to his head that got him dizzy. Even in a lot of pain, I kept punching him with the broken hand. I fought like I was fighting for my life, and it was worth it.”
As a result of fighting with a broken hand, Leal further revealed in the interview with Sherdog that his orthopedist recommended surgery. The UFC fighter subsequently disclosed that he had scheduled the operation for the following week and hoped to fight multiple times this year.
Imago
January 17, 2025, Los Angeles, Ca, Los Angeles, Ca, United States: L-R Joe Rogan and Renato Moicano at the ceremonial weigh-in at Intercontinental Downtown Los Angeles for UFC311 Makhachev vs Tsarukyan 2 : Official Weigh-ins on January 17, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA, United States. /PxImages Los Angeles, Ca United States – ZUMAp175 20250117_zsa_p175_147 Copyright: xLouisxGrassex
Leal didn’t elaborate on the specifics of his surgery. But it seems the doctors cleared him to compete before the latest injury struck. Regardless, this is the first time Carlos Leal has withdrawn from a fight in the UFC, and from a significant one at that.
At present, the Brazilian fighter’s career is on a very rocky road. Out of his four fights under Dana White’s banner, Leal currently stands at 2-2. So, a win over Randy Brown would have given him the chance to improve that record. Plus, it was a perfect fight for Leal to seize the spotlight because Brown has a name in the UFC, having faced contenders like Gabriel Bonfim and Kevin Holland.
It’s hard to judge when Carlos Leal will return without first recovering from his injury, but the promotion hasn’t announced a replacement for Brown yet.
Giving further information about the event, Renato Moicano has shared an intriguing detail about headlining the UFC Apex card once again.
Renato Moicano opens up on landing the UFC Vegas 123 headlining spot
Originally, the UFC scheduled Renato Moicano to fight Brian Ortega in an anticipated rematch at UFC 331 in September. However, ‘T-City’ suffered an injury during training camp, which scrapped the fight for the second time. Instead of rescheduling the bout or finding a new opponent, the promotion decided to shift Moicano to the Apex main event against newcomer Tom Nolan.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani, Moicano revealed that UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell called him and offered the fight.
“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.'”
This is the second time Moicano has been shifted to a different event. The first instance occurred when Brian Ortega pulled out of their UFC 326 bout in March, prompting the promotion to move the Brazilian straight to a fight night main event against fellow American Top Team teammate Chris Duncan—a fight which Moicano won.
So far, other than the Carlos Leal vs. Randy Brown fight, every bout remains intact. Now only time will tell whether the card faces any further turbulence.