Moicano vs Nolan: Can a 5-Fight Streak Crack the Top 10?

Halloween night closes out a stacked October for the UFC, and the Meta APEX card is built around a classic contender-versus-climber question. Renato Moicano, a former lightweight title challenger still planted inside one of the division's deepest Top 10s, headlines against Tom Nolan — a 26-year-old who's won five in a row and gets his first five-round fight in the process.

Moicano arrives off a strong 2026. In April he submitted Chris Duncan in the second round, and that win sits alongside victories over Benoît Saint Denis (now ranked #6 at 17-4) and Jalin Turner over the last two years. The losses to current welterweight champ Islam Makhachev and veteran Beneil Dariush (23-8-1) haven't knocked him off the contender ladder. This is his second main event of the calendar year.

Nolan's rise has been quick and clean. His only UFC defeat came in his promotional debut; since then he's rattled off five straight, including first-round finishes of Charlie Campbell and Victor Martinez and, most recently, a unanimous-decision win over Farès Ziam. The jump to Moicano is a steep one, though — five championship rounds against a submission-savvy veteran is a different animal entirely.

The Co-Main Scramble

The welterweight co-main is pure short-notice chaos, and that usually favors the busier man. Jacobe Smith, a Contender Series Season 8 standout, steps in on under two weeks' notice after stopping Bruce Whitehead at UFC 332 earlier this month. The former Oklahoma State wrestler is a perfect 4-for-4 in finishes across his UFC run, three of them knockouts.

Standing opposite is Randy Brown, who's hovered just outside the Top 15 for most of his tenure. Between 2021 and 2025, 'Rudeboy' won eight of 10 with highlight-reel finishes of Nicolas Dalby and Muslim Salikhov, though he's coming off a decision loss to Kevin Holland. Beat the hot prospect and Brown steals all the hype in the division.

Bantamweight Audition

Lower down, Yana Santos and Luana Santos both bring three-fight win streaks into a bout with real stakes. With Kayla Harrison set to defend against Amanda Nunes (23-5) at UFC 334, the 135-pound picture needs fresh names — and Luana has already climbed to #4 in the rankings off wins over Karol Rosa, Melissa Croden and Tainara Lisboa. Yana, 36, owns a win over former champ Miesha Tate.

There's a comeback angle too: Mickey Gall returns for the first time in nearly two years to face Contender Series alum Zachary Reese. Gall last fought in November 2024, dropping his fourth straight to Ramiz Brahimaj, and was pulled from a September booking over medical issues. For both the main eventers and the undercard climbers, Halloween is less about treats than proving who's real.