Ray Longo has questions about the Moicano stand-up, and they go beyond the referee.
Dan Miragliotta stood up Renato Moicano while he was attacking from Tom Nolan’s back in the second round of the UFC Vegas 123 main event. Nolan rocked Moicano late in the round and finished him in the third, his sixth straight win, and earned a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus.
On the Anik & Florian Podcast, the veteran coach wondered aloud whether Miragliotta acted on his own. Longo offered no evidence that anyone did.
I want to know if Dan, there was anything from the top that led him to do that. I don’t think he’s deciding to do that on his own, that’s how bad it was. I just can’t see it. And we know that the UFC, when you hold a guy against the cage, they don’t even let you on the Contender Series.
Now, is that right? I don’t want to coach like that. It’s not right for me. I want to be an MMA coach and come up with a strategy to get a win, but you can’t do that anymore. If you don’t fight a certain fight, you’re not getting in that organization.
Longo also pushed back on Daniel Cormier’s call on the broadcast to focus on Nolan. Cormier has since said Miragliotta should be pulled from upcoming shows.
I think the thing is we’ve got to say it every f***ing week at the start of the show. You just don’t let it go. ‘DC,’ he did do a good job, everyone’s in a weird spot. They have jobs, their families are dependent on a paycheck. He did try, but to say, ‘I don’t want to make it about Moicano, make it more about Tom.’ No, f*** that, what are you talking about? The guy got gifted something.
The whole thing soured Longo on the main event, and on how Nolan handled it.
It just kind of ruined the fight for me. I’ve never, ever seen anything like that in my life. Then you start going down rabbit holes. Was it [Miragliotta]? Was he told to do it? The fact that they rewarded that guy with a Bonus of the Night kind of tells me that they wanted that.
I kind of feel bad for Tom Nolan because I liked him going in. I don’t even know if I like him coming out, which is bad. I think he handled it really bad on the mic afterwards.
Kenny Florian, who co-hosts the podcast, has said he doesn’t believe the stand-up was a UFC directive.
Ray Longo: “I’ll Stop Watching the Sport” If MMA Keeps Moving This Way
