Dana White Addressed the Moicano Stand-Up Four Days Later: What He Said About the Rule
Four days after Dan Miragliotta stood Renato Moicano up off Tom Nolan’s back, Dana White finally said something about it. What he said was not a defense of Moicano, and it was not a condemnation of the referee.
White told MMA Junkie on Wednesday that he knew the question was coming. “I honestly don’t know what to think about it,” he said, adding that the UFC “haven’t even discussed it.”
Then he explained how he reads the rule. “I don’t think it’s about having the dominant position,” White said. “I think it’s about are you doing damage and are you trying to win the fight? The rules are if you’re not doing damage or trying to advance your position, or trying to win the fight, you get stood up.”
Read that twice and notice what is missing. He never says the call was correct. He never says it was wrong. For a promoter who happily calls a bad stoppage a bad stoppage, the refusal to pick a side is the news.
White is right about the rule, and that is the uncomfortable part
The ABC Unified Rules instruct a referee to stand fighters up when neither shows “real, significant and/or sustained effort to advance towards finishing the fight.” The text goes further: “Simply maintaining what may be perceived as a superior position will not be considered effort to advance towards finishing the fight.”
So the written rule does not protect back control on its own. White’s framing matches the book. The argument is only about whether Moicano was working or stalling, and on that, the people who have done this job disagree with the call.
John McCarthy, who refereed for three decades, said on The Ariel Helwani Show that there was no reason to break them up. “The real problem with it is, it’s not fair,” McCarthy said. “You gave a great advantage to one fighter over another.” He added that it “absolutely helped Tom Nolan.”
Daniel Cormier went further, calling it “one of the biggest officiating errors I have ever seen in my entire life” and arguing Miragliotta should be kept off upcoming cards.
No athletic commission has said a word about the call. Neither has the UFC, by White’s own admission. There is no review, no investigation and no discipline on record. Every demand for a penalty has come from broadcasters, not regulators.
What the call cost
At UFC Vegas 123 on Oct. 31 at the UFC Apex, Moicano had Nolan’s back with a body triangle in the second round, hunting a rear-naked choke, when Miragliotta brought them to their feet. McCarthy placed it at roughly a minute into the round. The UFC’s own recap called the decision surprising and noted that Nolan “immediately went to work.” Nolan dropped Moicano, got a takedown, and finished him by TKO at 1:28 of the third.
Moicano, 37, is 21-8-1 and fell from No. 8 to No. 14 at lightweight. He is not appealing and is not asking for Miragliotta to be punished. “It caught me by surprise,” he said. “I’ve never heard of anyone being stood up from mount or from someone’s back.” He also said, “It was the wrong decision, but it’s not going to change anything. I lost, that’s it,” and that the next person he needed to blame was himself.
What actually stings for him is simpler. He got half the paycheck.
Nolan, 26, is 12-1 with six straight UFC wins and jumped to No. 7 in the division. He knew the building did not like the call either. “You heard the crowd,” he said. “They didn’t love it.” He wants Mateusz Gamrot next.
White’s answer leaves Miragliotta exactly where he was on Saturday night, which is employed and working. If the UFC has not discussed the most criticized officiating decision of its fall, it is because it has no plans to.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
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