UFC Hall of Famer and color commentator Daniel Cormier was on the call during the UFC Fight Night 292 main event. Even with the benefit of some time to process, he makes no bones about what happened right in front of him.
"I will say – without a shadow of a doubt, with no second thought in my mind – I may have seen, from right next to the octagon, one of the biggest referee errors I've ever seen in my entire life," Cormier said Monday on his YouTube channel. "What I saw on Saturday night was one of the biggest officiating errors I've ever seen in my entire life. And I'm not talking about in the moment. I'm saying this a couple days afterward and sitting on it and thinking on it.
"I saw one of the biggest referee errors of my entire life."
Renato Moicano: Dan Miragliotta let UFC Vegas 123 crowd influence standup decision
The error in question Cormier was speaking of is the widely criticized decision by veteran referee Dan Miragliotta to stand up Tom Nolan and Renato Moicano in Round 2 while Moicano had control of Nolan's back with a body triangle also locked in. Moments later, Nolan rocked Moicano with punches to close out the frame, which seemingly changed the course of the fight as Nolan continued his strong striking in Round 3 and found a finish.
"Right away I said, 'Oh my God, this is crazy,'" Cormier said. "You cannot take somebody off of someone's back. … I don't care what the rule is. What I care about is knowing that it's a dominant position. It is a dominant position. There are positions in fighting that you never change. ...
"There was no stalling. He was not being timid. He was actually attempting to try to get to that position."
Even though Cormier believes Nolan was likely to finish the fight anyway because of Moicano feeling fatigued by "maxing out his effort" on the ground, there's no denying the impact of Miragliotta's decision. And for that, Cormier urges some action be taken by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which sanctioned UFC Fight Night 292 at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas.
"Dan Miragliotta needs a reset," Cormier said. "There's a show this weekend at the Apex; Dan Miragliotta should not be there. There is a show in New York City (UFC 334) where the heavyweight title will be on the line; Dan Miragliotta should not be there. ...
"It is so clear that the mistake led to the change in the outcome that you have to have a penalty. Everybody else is held accountable. We're all held accountable for our actions. Nobody should be above that, officials included. This is not me just sh*tting on Dan Miragliotta. This is not me going at anyone; I don't want to do that. But you've got to be held accountable for your actions when they're bad."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Daniel Cormier: Dan Miragliotta deserves 'a penalty' for UFC Vegas 123 blunder
