Tom Nolan survived an early onslaught on the canvas to deliver his own vicious brand of ground and pound to finish Renato Moicano in the UFC Vegas 123 main event.
Showing patience and good defense, Nolan avoided Moicano’s many submission attempts early but then came back with some devastating body work to finally put the Brazilian in trouble on the ground. From there, Nolan just unladed some vicious shots until referee Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight with the end coming at 1:28 in the third round.
“That’s probably better than I expected,” Nolan said about the win. “I come in here, I spoke to God, I said this is the plan for me and I trust me. I come in here ice cold and I delivered.
“This is the guy I wanted to fight. This is my job right now and I performed. Whatever the UFC want to do with me next.”
A nasty body kick from Moicano opened the action before ducking down and taking Nolan to the ground. A moment later Moicano was on Nolan’s back with a body triangle locked on.
Moicano was quick to start searching for submissions with Nolan stuck playing defense before actually getting back to his feet. Moicano maintained his position on the back while still trying to lock on the rear naked choke.
That forced Nolan back to the ground again but he survived until the round ended.
As the second round got started, Noland was able to defend Moicano’s first takedown attempt but not again after the Brazilian got the body lock and just flung him to the ground. Moicano again latched onto the back with the body triangle as Nolan was again stuck playing defense.
In a bizarre move, Miragliotta actually stood them up and that led to Nolan scoring a knockdown as he blasted away at Moicano trying to get the finish just as the round ended.
Nolan followed that up with a near head kick and a brutal knee strike to open the third round but Moicano still got the fight to the ground. His success was only momentary as Nolan reversed positions and he immediately started hammering away with strike.
Noland was relentless with his ground and pound until the referee saw enough to stop the fight as the Aussie earns the biggest win of his career.
A top prospect since first arriving in the UFC, Nolan now has a signature win on his resume after beating Moicano and now he’s looking at even tougher competition in the lightweight top 15 rankings.
