Sports
Tom Nolan Defeats Renato Moicano With Third-Round Technical Knockout
The Australian lightweight extended his winning streak at the UFC event in Las Vegas following a controversial referee decision.
By Headlinne · Compiled from reporting by MMA Fighting, MMA Junkie and Yahoo Sports
Tom Nolan defeated Renato Moicano with a third-round technical knockout at UFC Vegas 123 in Las Vegas on Saturday, securing the biggest win of his career.
The stoppage came at 1:28 of the third round after Nolan landed a series of strikes on the ground.
The victory extends Nolan's winning streak to six fights in the lightweight division and improves his professional record to 12-1.
The fight shifted significantly in the second round when referee Dan Miragliotta separated the fighters from a grappling position and stood them back up.
Moicano had spent much of the opening two rounds controlling Nolan on the canvas and attempting submissions.
The restart drew immediate criticism from observers in the arena, according to Yahoo Sports.
Nolan capitalized on the standing position by landing a knee strike that hurt Moicano before the end of the second round.
He then opened the third round with another knee before finishing the contest with ground and pound.
"That's probably better than I expected," Nolan said about the win.
"I come in here, I spoke to God, I said this is the plan for me and I trust me."
Nolan added that he was confident his conditioning would pay off as the bout progressed.
"We were confident the later it went, the more I'd be likely to finish him," Nolan said.
MMA Junkie reported that the MMA community was outraged by the referee's decision to stand the fighters up.
Moicano dropped to a record of 21-8-1 according to MMA Fighting, while Yahoo Sports listed his record as 27-8-1.
Nolan stated that he did not have a specific opponent in mind for his next bout.
"This is the guy I wanted to fight," Nolan said.
"This is my job right now and I performed. Whatever the UFC want to do with me next."
Reporting from
- MMA Fighting
Tom Nolan brutalizes Renato Moicano with ground and pound to win UFC Vegas 123 main event
- MMA Junkie
Fighters react to Tom Nolan's TKO of Renato Moicano at UFC Vegas 123
- Yahoo Sports
UFC Vegas 123 results: Tom Nolan makes the most of controversial referee stand-up, knocks out Renato Moicano
How this article was made: Headlinne wrote it with AI from the 3 reports listed above. Direct quotes are checked word for word against those reports, every number appears in at least one of them, and no other sentence is copied from one. Photos are from those reports and credited to them. Each report’s page on Headlinne links to the outlet’s original.