Renato Moicano’s return against Tom Nolan at UFC Vegas 123 marked the fifth event the Brazilian headlined. Throughout fight week, ‘Money’ remained confident about having the upper hand against the Australian. But the Aussie proved to be a tough test that Moicano could not pass. Nolan scored an exceptional but controversial third-round TKO against the UFC veteran to close the show at Meta Apex.
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Following the devastating loss, Renato Moicano broke his silence and addressed the fans with a social media post.
“I want to thank the fans!” Moicano wrote. “I had a terrible performance. I was well trained, I managed to get the back control, but I couldn’t do any damage. He was defending well! Congrats to the guy who follows!”
Moicano took the loss on his chin very well, considering the massive controversy that unfolded in the main event.
Quero agradecer os fãs! Tive uma pessima perfomance, tava bem treinado, consegui quedar pegar as costas mas não consegui fazer nenhum dano, ele tava defendendo bem! Parabéns vide que segue!
From the opening bell, ‘Money’ looked fresh. He landed a takedown in the first round and managed to sway the round in his favor by landing a few decent shots. However, Nolan began to press forward with his pressure striking in the second round, getting the better of the striking exchanges.
This made Moicano resort to his grappling, and he again found success with a body lock. The Brazilian immediately started looking for a rear-naked choke from the back mount. Nolan neutralized the threat by controlling Moicano’s hand and defending the choke attempts. In doing so, he kept Moicano from landing big shots from the back.
But while Moicano was trying to sneak his way to a submission, the official for the bout, Dan Miragliotta, made a controversial call that left everyone scratching their heads.
The referee stood them up.
This allowed Tom Nolan, who had struggled to make his way out of Moicano’s body lock, to swiftly escape from a tough position. And the ‘Aussie’ made sure he took advantage of it. Nolan cracked Moicano with a combination, and it was clear that he was searching for a finish. Moicano tried to take him down once again, but Nolan landed a big knee flush on his nose.
Despite Nolan’s onslaught, ‘Money’ made it to the third round. However, the Aussie eventually found a devastating flurry that ended the fight via TKO at 1:28 of Round 3.
For Renato Moicano, the UFC Vegas 123 loss marked his third defeat in four fights. The lightweight veteran’s most impressive win in 2026 came against Chris Duncan in April 2026, but he couldn’t follow that up with a similar performance. The Brazilian was ranked No. 8 in the lightweight division, a position he will lose after falling to Nolan.
Still, Moicano remained classy with his first response after this brutal defeat. However, other UFC fighters were visibly furious over the referee’s controversial decision and called him out on X.
UFC fighters rage at referee Dan Miragliotta over his call during Renato Moicano’s UFC Vegas 123 fight
At first, featherweight veteran Sodiq Yusuff called out the UFC Vegas 123 referee, writing, “Wow the ref almost took the fight from him.”
After that, former two-division champion Henry Cejudo wrote, “What do you guys think about the referee taking away Moicano’s position?” Soon, UFC lightweight Terence McKinney said Nolan should thank the referee for providing him with such an easy escape, which he swiftly capitalized on. “He capitalized but the ref won that one, crazy work standing that up.”
Middleweight contender Caio Borralho also joined the wave of backlash toward Dan Miragliotta, writing, “So, now we reward a guy who doesn’t know how to get out of back control?”
Gilbert Burns also joined the backlash toward the referee and wrote, “Freaking referee! 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️ omg it’s no way he did that! #UFCVegas123
The UFC fighters’ disdain toward the UFC Vegas 123 referee stemmed from the fact that Miragliotta abruptly separated Moicano and Nolan.
Under MMA rules, an official can break a ground position when there is a lack of sufficient action. This is done so the fight doesn’t get stalled, and the audience can watch the action without getting too bored. According to that description, Miragliotta perhaps sensed that Moicano wasn’t actively working to inflict damage and broke the position.
However, this is where the tricky part comes in. Securing a submission from the back mount can take a little effort to execute, especially against an opponent like Nolan, who was defending the choke well. On other occasions, referees would most likely let Moicano work from the back mount without intervening. But Miragliotta chose to intervene, thus potentially costing ‘Money’ his shot at winning the bout.
The crowd also booed the referee loudly when he made that call, and now the officials’ decisions are under greater scrutiny. Still, this isn’t the first time Miragliotta has faced such criticism.
At UFC Vancouver 2025, Miragliotta prematurely stopped the bout between Matt Frevola and Kyle Nelson three seconds before the bell sounded in the first round. After a quick check, the referee said he had mistakenly heard the horn and resumed the fight.
Nelson ultimately won the contest via unanimous decision, but Frevola, who lost the bout, called out Miragliotta for his poor officiating. The UFC Vegas 123 incident happened to be another example of a bad night in the office.
However, Renato Moicano will now be going back to the drawing board, figuring out how to move forward from this loss.