UFC 331: Moicano vs. Ortega Called Off for Second Time in 2026
Renato Moicano vs. Brian Ortega is off UFC 331, scrapped for the second time in 2026 ahead of Joshua Van's flyweight title defense against Alexandre Pantoja.
Renato Moicano vs. Brian Ortega is off UFC 331 again.
The UFC pulled the lightweight bout from the September 20 card at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, canceling the fight for the second time this year. The pairing was originally booked for UFC 326 back in March, scratched before that card too, and still hasn't happened.
No reason has been given for either scrap. Ortega (16-5) hasn't fought since dropping a decision to Aljamain Sterling in August 2025, his second straight loss after also falling to Diego Lopes the year before. He's spent the last year sitting at No. 11 in the featherweight rankings, and the Moicano fight was supposed to be his reintroduction, a move up to 155 pounds after two setbacks at his usual weight.
Moicano was coming from the other direction. Ranked No. 8 at lightweight with a 21-7-1 record, he'd dropped back-to-back decisions to Islam Makhachev and Beneil Dariush before snapping that skid with a second-round submission of Chris Duncan in April. Ortega would have been his first ranked opponent since the Dariush loss, a chance to show the Duncan win wasn't a one-off against a game but unranked foe.
The rest of the card still has plenty riding on it. Joshua Van (17-2) puts the flyweight title on the line against Alexandre Pantoja (30-6), the man he took it from. Pantoja's reign ended in 26 seconds this past December, a first-round TKO that turned the champion into the No. 1 contender overnight, and now he gets an immediate crack at reclaiming the belt he never lost on the judges' scorecards.
Photo: Sexto Round / CC BY 3.0
With Moicano-Ortega gone, the main card drops from six fights to five, and UFC 331 heads into fight week with 12 bouts left on the whole lineup instead of 13. Arman Tsarukyan and Maurício Ruffy are still in the lightweight picture on the main card, and Patricio Pitbull-Dooho Choi, Alonzo Menifield-Iwo Baraniewski and Gable Steveson-Sean Sharaf round out the undercard leading into the title fight.
UFC 331 goes down September 20 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, with Van vs. Pantoja 2 headlining the pay-per-view main card.