UFC Vegas 123 With Amazing Main Card for Halloween

UFC Vegas 123 fight week continues. For the final time in the month of October, the UFC is open for business this weekend. Live coverage of UFC Vegas 123 commences with the prelims on Saturday afternoon at 5 pm ET/ 2 pm PT.

Stateside, this event can be seen in its entirety on Paramount Plus. Main card action follows at 8 pm ET/ 5 pm PT on the Skydance-owned streamer. Barring any late adjustments to the bout order between now and the weekend, 12 fights will be held on Halloween Night.

In addition to the fights going on inside the Octagon for UFC Vegas 123, Meta Apex, the host venue of the card, will be holding a costume contest on Saturday. Participants will have an opportunity to win tickets to the Dec, 12 UFC 335 inside T-Mobile Arena.

UFC Vegas 123 Main Event: No. 12 Contender Renato Moicano vs. No. 14 Contender Tom Nolan: Moicano Returns After Slight Delay

At the top of the bill on UFC Vegas 123 is one of only two all-ranked matchups Saturday evening. Lightweights take to the fabled Octagon when No. 12 contender Renato Moicano (21-7-1 MMA, 13-7 UFC) battles No. 14 contender Tom Nolan (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC.) This fight is an advertised five rounds at five minutes per round to close out the night's activities.

Moicano enters the weekend with a record of 3-2 in his last five MMA fights. He hasn't fought since the night of April 4. That spring weekend, he submitted Chris Duncan (15-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) with a rear-naked choke in the second round of action.

After the April 4 fight, Moicano was slated to verse Brian Ortega in a rebooking of a postponed contest from March 7 on Sept. 19. Much like the March 7 fight, this contest was also scrubbed. Ortega sustained a cut in training camp for the Sept. 19 bout.

With the fight between Renato Moicano and Brian Ortega now off the table for a second time, the former now moves on to Nolan on Saturday night. How will he fare here?

Tom Nolan on Hot Streak Ahead of UFC Vegas 123

Meanwhile, Tom Nolan is 5-0 in his last five outings. On June 6, he bested Fares Ziam (18-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) by way of unanimous decision to extend his current streak. 

When a fighter is on a hot streak, as Nolan is going into UFC Vegas 123 on Saturday evening, he can be almost impossible to stop. To a man, Renato Moicano is going to have to be on the top of his game on Saturday if he is going to defeat Nolan.

UFC Vegas 123 Co-Main Event: Randy Brown vs. Jacobe Smith: Brown Dealing with Opponent Change

Immediately beforehand, the co-main event of the evening takes place in the welterweight division. Randy Brown (20-8 MMA, 14-8 UFC) meets Jacobe Smith (13-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC.) This is a three-round fight at five minutes each.

Brown comes into UFC Vegas 123 sporting a mark of 2-3 in his last five appearances. At the moment, he's dropped two fights in a row dating back to November of last year.

Most recently, he lost by way of unanimous decision to Kevin Holland (29-15, 1 NC MMA, 16-12, 1 NC UFC) on April 11 in UFC 327 in Miami. Initially, Smith was not slated as Brown's original adversary on Saturday night. 

Randy Brown was originally scheduled to have versed Carlos Leal for the Halloween co-main event but the latter withdrew from the bout prior to the show due to injury. Brown hasn't had much time to prepare for his new opponent, but can he pick up a victory this weekend?

Jacobe Smith With Quick Turnaround for UFC Vegas 123

Meanwhile, Jacobe Smith has yet to lose as a professional MMA fighter. On Oct. 3, he scored a first-round knockout of Bruce Whitehead (8-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in the latter's UFC debut.

Smith started the month of October with a win in Utah and is undefeated in the sport. The mantra of "Get ready and stay ready" is a refrain that MMA fighters sometimes need to follow.

It's what Jacobe Smith is faced with on Saturday night in UFC Vegas 123. Will he remain unbeaten by the time he leaves Meta Apex?

UFC Vegas 123: Ode Osbourne vs. Cody Durden: Osbourne Hopes for Definitive Result

Also on the UFC Vegas 123 main card, the flyweights do battle when Ode Osbourne (13-9, 2 NC MMA, 5-7, 1 NC UFC) fights Cody Durden (18-11-1 MMA, 7-9-1 UFC.) This is a rebooking of a scrapped fight from July 11, postponed due to an injury by Osbourne, who comes in with a 2-2 record with one no-contest in his last five fights. 

Initially, Osbourne lost by way of unanimous decision on Feb. 20 against Alibi Idiris (10-1, 1 NC MMA, 0-1, 1 NC UFC) after three rounds. The result was subsequently reversed to a no-contest in the aftermath of Idiris returning a positive drug test.

While he had his defeat stricken from the record due to Idiris' drug test, he hasn't gotten his hand raised in victory since April of last year. Can Ode Osbourne get to victory lane?

Cody Durden Looking for Better Outcome in Rebooked Fight

In the other corner, Cody Durden enters this card with a 1-4 record in his past five trips to the cage. Upon Ode Osbourne withdrawing from the July 11 fight, Durden was booked to fight Alessandro Costa (17-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC.)

That night, he lost by way of second-round submission due to second-round knockout. Four months after the originally-scheduled bout, Durden is seeking a victory.

Rest of the Card

Two other fights round out the UFC Vegas 123 main card, a women's bantamweight bout between No. 6 contender Yana Santos (17-8, 1 NC MMA, 7-5 UFC) and No. 7 contender Luana Santos (11-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) and a welterweight contest versing Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani (11-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) with Farman Hasanov (5-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC.)