Renato Moicano looking to derail gym mate Chris Duncan at Fight Night

A pair of skilled lightweight submission artists heading in opposite directions are stepping into the spotlight this weekend for a five-round featured contest at the Meta Apex.

Renato Moicano hasn’t won a fight in a year-and-a-half, will turn 37 by the end of next month, and is set to face streaking Scotsman Chris Duncan, who happens to be a teammate no less.

The popular Brazilian fighter has lost his last two outings and aims to prove he is still deserving of being a top-ranked contender at 155 pounds.

Moicano enters his third UFC main event matchup, currently the No. 10-ranked lightweight contender on the roster, yet he is the listed underdog against Duncan, his unranked gym mate from American Top Team.

Both fighters have trained out of the star-studded Coconut Creek, Fla., gym for years, so the fact that they were paired together for this matchup has resulted in some complicated preparations out of ATT.

Moicano explained in an interview with Full Send MMA this week that, at times, the atmosphere in the gym was “confusing” because both he and Duncan usually have an overlap of training partners.

“The gym, I’m not going to say was divided, but some guys that were helping him were not training with me,” Moicano said.

Neither fighter will allow this to alter their game plan or quash their desire to earn a knockout or submission win. In fact, this isn’t the first time that Duncan has recently prepared to fight someone with whom he has shared the mats.

Duncan, 32, is riding a four-fight winning streak, and one of those wins was a hard-fought unanimous decision eight months ago over Mateusz Rebecki, who had spent time at ATT in the past. Duncan has been there for the duration of his UFC career, which began in 2022. He became one of Dustin Poirier’s main training partners there, and his fighting style at times resembles that of the retired one-time interim lightweight titleholder.

Meanwhile, Moicano has been a staple at ATT since 2017 and a fixture on the UFC roster since 2014. The jiu-jitsu black belt began his mixed martial arts career as a featherweight, where he picked up victories over Cub Swanson, Calvin Kattar and Jeremy Stephens. He moved up to the lightweight division in 2020 and, after splitting his first two bouts in his new weight class, has gone 6-3 and even challenged for the title.

Moicano was on the best streak of his career from 2022 to 2024 when he railed off four consecutive wins over top competition. A technical knockout win over Jalin Turner at UFC 300 and another TKO over Benoit Saint Denis in a UFC Paris main event in September of 2024 put him in a position where he was awarded a short-notice title shot at UFC 311 in January 2025.

Moicano was submitted by then-champion Islam Makhachev on one day’s notice as a replacement opponent, and was unable to return to the win column in his next outing. He lost a three-round decision to Beneil Dariush at UFC 317 last June and hasn't fought since. Also, in recent years, he has been dealing with a shoulder issue that has hindered him.

Duncan has gone 4-0 with three submission finishes since Moicano's most recent win. His perfect 2025 campaign was capped off by consecutive back-and-forth brawls with Rebecki and Terrance McKinney, the latter of whom he ended up submitting in a wild half-round bout.

Duncan is 15-2 in MMA with four submission wins and all those subs have been via guillotine or anaconda choke. Moicano has been submitted twice in his career – by Brian Ortega via guillotine choke in 2017 and by Makhachev via brabo choke in early 2025.

Half of Moicano’s pro wins have been via submission, but he hasn’t locked in a fight-finishing hold since he stopped Brad Riddell with a rear-naked choke in 2022.

Seven of Duncan’s 15 pro wins have been via KO/TKO, and Moicano has been stopped by strikes three times in his career. He was stopped by Jose Aldo and “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung in 2019 and knocked out by Rafael Fiziev in 2020.

The oddsmakers have Duncan listed as a minus-200 favourite, according to BetMGM, with Moicano a plus-165 underdog. The most likely outcome per oddsmaker projections is Duncan winning by KO/TKO (plus-100), followed by Moicano by submission (plus-300).

UNDERCARD OVERVIEW

Big opportunity for Ricci: The co-main event features strawweight contenders Virna Jandiroba and Tabatha Ricci, the latter of whom is hoping to move closer to a title shot. Jandiroba has to regain momentum after falling short in her vacant title fight with Mackenzie Dern in October. Ricci is riding high off the first KO/TKO win of her UFC career.

Ricci, 31, improved to 7-3 in the UFC with her finish of Amanda Ribas, and she holds a key victory over fellow rising 115-pounder Gillian Robertson. Three of Jandiroba’s four pro losses have been to UFC champions — two were to Dern and one was to Carla Esparza — and she has never been finished in her career. Jandiroba, 37, enters the weekend as the No. 3-ranked contender in the strawweight division with Ricci sitting at No. 7.

Ewing on a full camp: One of the more feel-good stories in the UFC last year was the short-notice debut of Ethan Ewing in November. Ewing handed touted bantamweight prospect Malcolm Wellmaker his first loss at UFC 322 after accepting the matchup on just 48 hours’ notice. Ewing is set for his sophomore outing and his first UFC appearance after having a full training camp to prepare.

The 28-year-old who trains out of CSW Training Center in Fullerton, Calif., is 9-2 and had won a bantamweight title on the regional scene in California just one week before his UFC debut. Ewing’s bout with Wellmaker was a 145-pound contest given its short-notice nature, but he will be competing at his usual weight of 135 pounds this weekend when he faces undefeated Rafael Estevam. Ewing lost his pro debut in 2020 and his second fight in 2022, but has won nine in a row since 2023. Estevam is 14-0 in MMA and 3-0 in the UFC.

Returning fighters: There are a handful of familiar names listed on Saturday’s bout order that UFC fans haven’t seen in a while. Kai Kamaka III was added to the card this week after five years spent competing in rival organizations.

Featherweight striker Lando Vannata is also returning to the cage after a lengthy layoff. Vannata, 34, hasn’t fought in three years and hasn’t gotten his hand raised in nearly five. Vannata has been on the UFC roster since 2016, but only has a 4-7-2 record. He has lost two in a row and three of four dating back to 2020. His opponent, Darrius Flowers, is in a similar spot, having not fought since July 2024 and entering on a three-fight losing streak. Flowers earned a UFC contract through the Contender Series in 2022 and has gone 0-3 at the UFC level.

Below is the projected bout order for UFC Fight Night: Moicano vs. Duncan (subject to change):

MAIN CARD

— Renato Moicano vs. Chris Duncan

— Virna Jandiroba vs. Tabatha Ricci

— Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev vs. Brendson Ribeiro

— Ethyn Ewing vs. Rafael Estevam

— Tommy McMillen vs. Manolo Zecchini

— Jose Delano vs. Robert Ruchala

PRELIMINARY CARD

— Guilherme Pat vs. Thomas Petersen

— Alessandro Costa vs. Stewart Nicoll

— Lando Vannata vs. Darrius Flowers

— Alice Pereira vs. Hailey Cowan

— Azamat Bekoev vs. Tresean Gore

— Dione Barbosa vs. Melissa Gatto

— Kai Kamaka III vs. Dakota Hope