Veteran referee John McCarthy believes Dan Miragliotta handed Tom Nolan a major advantage in his win over Renato Moicano last weekend.
McCarthy, the longtime UFC official who now co-hosts the Weighing In podcast with Josh Thomson, broke down the second-round standup that stripped Moicano of back control in Saturday’s main event in Las Vegas.
McCarthy first shared what he thought was going through Miragliotta’s mind (h/t MMA Junkie):
“When you look at why did Dan stand them up, I think Dan looked at it as, ‘We’ve had this position now a good portion of this fight and nothing’s happened, let’s get some action into it.’”
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
He went on to say that Nolan was handed an unfair advantage:
“He stands them up, and it’s completely unfair to one fighter – Moicano. Moicano earned that position. He worked for that position. It’s not an easy position to get to, and once he gets to it, it’s his to have.”
Moicano spent most of the fight there. The Brazilian locked a body triangle, mixing punches with rear-naked choke attempts, and had more than seven minutes of control time before the reset.
Nolan needed little time to capitalize. The 26-year-old hurt Moicano with a knee in close late in the second round, then finished him with ground and pound at 1:28 of the third to reach 12-1 and a sixth straight win.
McCarthy also pushed back on any suggestion the Brazilian was stalling, pointing to the volume he threw from the position:
“If you go back and look, the last minute he was on Nolan’s back before the stand-up, he had to have thrown 20, 25 strikes.”
The former UFC referee added:
“We don’t give advantages to one fighter over another. He gave a great advantage to Tom Nolan, and took an advantage away from Moicano.”
While Joe Rogan wasn’t working the card, he didn’t need a microphone to make his point later on
Joe Rogan unhappy with Dan Miragliotta’s call
Jon Anik read out Joe Rogan’s message on his YouTube show with his brother Jason, quoting a text sent to the group chat he shares with Daniel Cormier.
“It’s not a sport if refs can do that.”
Anik, the UFC’s play-by-play voice, was just as firm about the call:
“I do believe when somebody has back control like that, a referee will not be able to take it away. Certainly not that expeditiously.”
Miragliotta, one of the sport’s most experienced officials, has not publicly explained the standup.
Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim
