Fighters condemn Dan Miragliotta for standing Moicano up from back control against Nolan

Tom Nolan, who stopped Moicano in round three, says he spoke to the referee about shots to the back of his head and was not asking for a stand-up.

Referee Dan Miragliotta drew criticism from a string of fighters after standing Renato Moicano and Tom Nolan up in round two of the UFC Vegas 123 main event at the Meta APEX on Saturday night, with Moicano on Nolan's back and a body triangle locked in.

Nolan landed a knee soon after the restart and stopped Moicano with punches and elbows at 1:28 of round three.

"He capitalized, but the ref won that one," UFC lightweight Terrance McKinney wrote on X. "Crazy work standing that up."

Henry Cejudo wrote: "The referee standing them up when Moicano had the back changed the fight." Caio Borralho wrote: "So now we reward a guy not knowing how to get out of the back control and we just stand them up?" Belal Muhammad's post read: "Terrible ref."

Joe Solecki wrote that Miragliotta "should be investigated or lose his job as a referee", adding: "You absolutely cannot stand up a fight from back control with a body triangle."

Nolan said at the post-fight press conference that he followed the instruction. "I just did what I was told. He said, 'Stand up,' so I stood up," he said.

He said he had spoken to Miragliotta before the stand-up, but about shots he said were landing on the back of his head. "To be clear, when I was talking to the ref, I wasn't asking for a standup," Nolan said. "He was punching me in the back of the head."

"I wasn't looking for a standup. I had five rounds to work," he added. "I had nothing to do with the ref standing it up. It's not my fault."

Asked whether he cared that the talk about the referee was overshadowing his win, Nolan said: "Whatever. What can I, what can I do? Even if I do care, it means nothing. So who, who gives a shit?"

Moicano did not mention the referee in his post after the fight. "I had a terrible performance," he wrote in Portuguese on X, adding that he took Nolan down and got his back but could not do any damage.

The win was Nolan's sixth in a row and took him to 12-1. He said Mateusz Gamrot "would be a fun one" next.

READ NEXTTom Nolan stops Renato Moicano in round three of his first UFC main event at UFC Vegas 123Read the next story →

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