Tom Nolan doesn’t think Dan Miragliotta meaningfully changed the outcome of his fight with Renato Moicano.
On Saturday, Nolan picked up the biggest win of his MMA career, stopping Moicano in the main event of UFC Vegas 123. Unfortunately, the win was overshadowed by controversy, as in the second round, referee Dan Miragliotta stood the fight up with Moicano holding a back body triangle. This came after Moicano dominated the first round of the fight with the same position, and immediately after the stand-up,
Nolan hurt Moicano, leading many to believe that Miragliotta changed the outcome of the fight.
Speaking with reporters at his post-fight presser after the fight, Nolan made it clear that he had nothing to do with Miragliotta’s action, saying that he was talking to the referee about illegal shots to the back of the head while he was in that position.
“To be clear, when I was talking to the ref, I wasn’t trying to ask for a standup: he was punching me in the back of the head, I was just trying to tell the ref,” Nolan said. “He was, like, framing my head forward and throwing his left hand and hitting me in the back of the head. So I was just letting Dan know, ‘Hey, the rules are we can’t punch in the back of the head. If that wasn’t a rule, then that’s fine, but it is a rule, so do something about it. Don’t just watch him punch me in the back of the head.’
“So that’s what I was saying to the ref. I said, ‘Ref, he’s punching me in the back of the head.’ I’m fine with those shots to the front; keep doing that, but don’t punch me in the back of the head. There’s a reason; it’s a dangerous place to hit someone. You can kill someone hitting there. So that’s what I was talking about. I wasn’t looking for a standup.
“Like I said, I had five rounds to work. Had I lost that round because he was on my back, I was completely comfortable with that. I had nothing to do with the ref standing it up. That’s not my fault. …
“I’m in the middle of a fight; I just did what I was told,” Nolan continued. “He said stand up, so I stood up. I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh no, let’s stay on the mat.’ I don’t have any personal agenda toward it; I do what I’m told. The ref said stand up, so I stood up.”
Nolan’s right in that he has no control over Miragliotta’s decision. Still, the speed with which the fight changed left many fans and fighters livid with Miragliotta’s call. But Nolan argues that, ultimately, he doesn’t think it changed much, considering Moicano made it to the third round and even scored another takedown.
“Didn’t he take me down again after the standup? I’m pretty sure he took me down, and I’m pretty sure I turned my hips over, and then I pretty sure I finished him,” Nolan said when pressed on the subject. “So I think the fight was trending that way. I think the truth is, that’s how it would have gone. I don’t think he even landed a strike on the feet other than the kicks to the body. I don’t think a glove touched me on the feet. I might be wrong, but I think they all missed.
“I was strong on the mat, defensively sound; he wasn’t anywhere near a choke. I did my job, I turned in, and I finished the fight. Nothing I can really say about it.”
Controversy or not, Nolan still picked up the biggest win of his career, and will likely move to No. 12 in the UFC lightweight rankings this week. And while “Big Train” doesn’t care too much where he goes next, another chance to prove his grappling chops and move into the Top 10 appeals to him.
“I think [Mateusz] Gamrot would be a fun one,” Nolan said. “I think that would bring the best version of me out in my camp. I think that’s, stylistically, a fun fight. But also, the UFC will tell me. I think that they’ll have a plan and figure something out. Right now, I wasn’t too focused going into this one with, ‘OK, I’m going to call this person out, or do this, or do that.’ It was for me; this was the fight I wanted to perform and prove to the younger version of myself that I can come out here, and I can beat a giant. And I did. So right now, I’m just going to sit in this and enjoy it, and we’ll see what happens.”
