Tom Nolan was coming off second-best against Renato Moicano on the mat early in their main event clash tonight at UFC Fight Night 292, but he then seized upon a controversial ref stand-up in the 2nd round to turn the tables with big strikes and eventually emerged with a 3rd round TKO finish.
Round One
The lightweight main event is underway in Las Vegas.
Kick to the body from Nolan and Moicano lands a punch in response. Moicano checks a kick and now lands a body kick.
Moicano ducks awkwardly under a punch to set up a takedown attempt and is able to get Nolan down.
Moicano secures the back and has the body triangle in. He tries for a rear-naked choke, but gives up on that attempt quickly.
Nolan forces his way back to his feet, but Moicano remains locked onto his back and is now having o carry his weight against the cage.
Moicano goes for the rear-naked choke and drags Nolan back to the mat, but again gives up on the choke quite quickly as he doesn’t have it in tight enough.
A minute to go in the round. A few light punches land from Moicano, but not much else.
Round Two
Body kick for Moicano. Now a body kick from Nolan, but Moicano is immediately into the clinch against the cage. Nolan reverses the position and backs away.
Kick for Nolan. High kick from him now as he looks to put Moicano under pressure. Moicano able to close distance to get the body lock and brings Nolan down.
Moicano easily taking the back again and secures the body triangle. Nolan landing some elbows to the top of Moicano’s thigh while trying to defend against a potential rear-naked choke that could come at any moment.
Crowd getting restless as Moicano continues to cruise from this dominant position on the mat. Surprisingly the ref agrees with the crowd and forces them to stand up!
Nolan starting to get his striking going now. Nolan with a knee upstairs that drops Moicano! Nolan with some ground-and-pound now. Moicano tries to get back up, but is slammed to the mat by Nolan.
Good stuff from Nolan but that forced stand-up by the ref Dan Miragliotta beforehand was very controversial.
Round Three
Big body kicks exchanged. Nolan lands another. Head kick attempt buckles Moicano’s legs for a moment and then a knee from Nolan too.
Moicano responds by landing a takedown. However, Nolan is able to reverse the position. Big ground-and-pound from Nolan now and Moicano is fading. He lands some big elbows and that’s it, the ref has seen enough and Nolan wins by TKO at 1:28mins of the third round.
Nolan did a great job there of seizing the momentum with impactful striking on the feet and on the mat to turn the fight in his favor, but there’s no doubt that this bout will also be looked back on as a clear example of a controversial refereeing decision having an instant impact on the eventual outcome of a fight.
