Dan Miragliotta standup in Tom Nolan vs Moicano called a referee error by Cormier

Tom Nolan stopped Moicano with ground and pound in the third round, while UFC analyst Din Thomas called the standup questionable and said an appeal would come as no surprise.

By Combat Sports UK Staff · Published Sun 1 Nov, 15:13 UK · AI-assisted reporting

The UFC's broadcast team could not explain referee Dan Miragliotta's decision to stand the fighters up with Moicano in a dominant position on Saturday night. Tom Nolan went on to win the fight with ground and pound in the third round.

UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier said on the post-fight show: “I just hate that something like that — I don’t care what anybody says, a referee error ultimately casts a little bit of a shadow over what was a beautiful performance by Tom Nolan.” Cormier also credited Nolan's striking with creating the position for the finish.

Cormier stressed how hard such a position is to reach, and said Moicano, while perhaps not punching, was reaching and hand fighting in search of a choke. Cormier said: “You can stop a lot of positions but I just don’t think a ref should take anybody out of mount ever, should never take anybody off of the back like that.” UFC commentator Laura Sanko was also at a loss to explain the call, and defended Moicano's work to keep the position. Sanko said: “You can’t sit there and punch all the time. Getting to that spot is advancing your position in grappling. Aljamain Sterling was freaking out [in the crowd].” UFC analyst Din Thomas said on the post-fight show that the standup was questionable, though it was unclear whether the outcome would have been any different without it. Thomas said an appeal from Moicano to the Nevada State Athletic Commission would come as no surprise, but standups are entirely at a referee's discretion, leaving Moicano little argument over the result.

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Tom Nolan Aljamain Sterling