Controversial Referee Decision Taunts Tom Nolan’s Comeback Win at UFC Vegas 123

Oh, silly me. Here I was thinking this piece discussing the fallout of UFC Vegas 123 was going to be about something fun or cool. The UFC leaned into the Halloween aspect of last night’s card. You had performances from rising names like Jacobe Smith and Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani. Even Tom Nolan would qualify for this given his rising star status. There was even an instance or two where referees – Herb Dean included – actually were quick to pull the trigger to take points for fouls.

But then those last two circumstances got completely derailed by what actually transpired in the main event bout between Nolan and Renato Moicano.

The way the first two rounds played out between the pair, you wouldn’t think Nolan would have his hand raised by the end. Moicano scored a takedown early in the first round, and he got to work quickly. It seemed to be pretty fast that he got to Nolan’s back and locked in a body triangle. He searched for a choke on multiple attempts. In fact, twice it looked like the choke could have been tight and a submission could have been inevitable.

Somehow, Nolan survived the first round. But he quickly found himself grounded again inside Moicano’s body triangle in the second. Rinse and repeat – Moicano on Nolan’s back, searching for the choke, landing some punches when he can. This looked to be the pattern that might follow.

Then, Dan Miragliotta happened.

With about 1:15 left in the second round, Miragliotta, the referee for the main event, felt there was a lack of activity and elected to stand the fighters up. And while there were some cheers in the Meta Apex, Daniel Cormier, the former UFC champion on commentary for the card, immediately blasted the decision.

It ultimately proved to be the turning point of the fight, too. Nolan soon landed a late-round knee that wobbled Moicano. Nolan followed it up with a flurry of activity, putting Moicano in danger of being stopped.

Moicano managed to survive until the horn, but it wasn’t long into the third round when Nolan’s striking proved to be too much again, resulting in a comeback TKO win for Nolan that, while massive for him, ultimately is tainted.

Something needs to be clear here: a lack of activity is reasonable for a fight to be stood up from a grounded position. That’s not just for entertainment value; it is stated in the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts: “The Referee shall either stand up or break the fighters when neither fighter is able to or fails to demonstrate real, significant and/or sustained effort to advance towards finishing the fight by any method. Simply maintaining what may be perceived as a superior position will not be considered effort to advance towards finishing the fight nor grounds for a guaranteed opportunity to maintain that position.”

The debate is not about a lack of action; the debate is whether Moicano’s dominant position – having taken Nolan’s back with a body triangle locked in, and Nolan’s seeming inability to escape the position – falls under the lack of activity idea.

Watching the fight and the controversial round in question again, the “inactivity” didn’t even seem to be bad. You might not even be able to call it inactivity. Moicano is throwing strikes, even if a number are getting blocked by Nolan’s arms, and the two are fighting arms as Moicano looks to find the neck for the choke, and Nolan is trying to prevent that.

It’s only when Moicano’s arms stop moving, one of them with Nolan’s hand on it, and Nolan is looking at the referee – all of which lasts less than 10 seconds – that the referee stands them up.

A back take with a body triangle is one of the most dominating positions a fighter can have, and this writer can’t tell you that he’s ever seen any stand-up from such a position in oer 20 years of watching MMA as a fan and media member.

The only time this writer can remember such a dominant position being taken away due to inactivity was when Kimbo Slice lost mount against Dada 5000 in their infamous Bellator MMA fight in 2016.

And it’s sad because this decision taints so many things. It robbed Moicano of his dominant position and a possible victory. It puts a dark cloud around Nolan’s victory – and being dominated before the stand-up puts his ranking into question. And despite Herb Dean’s decision to take a point for one eye poke in an earlier fight, we go right back to the discussion about controversial officiating and how there are no consequences or standards the refs are to be held to.

Same old song and dance. Puts a ghoulish end to an otherwise fun night.