Renato Moicano’s coach finally got his moment with Dan Miragliotta, and he did not waste it.
Footage posted Saturday by Championship Rounds on X shows Marcos DaMatta, the coach known as Parrumpa, confronting the veteran referee after Moicano’s loss to Tom Nolan in the UFC Vegas 123 main event. Miragliotta held his ground and explained the stand-up that has been the dominant story of the past week. “I let him stay for a very long time, and it was nothing going on,” he told the coach.
Parrumpa wasn’t buying it. “I lost all respect for you. You know you’re wrong. Piece of sh*t,” he fired back. The clip spread to r/MMA within minutes.
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The call that started it
The lightweight headliner turned on a single decision. Moicano took Nolan’s back and kept it, logging at least four combined minutes there across two rounds, by MMA Mania’s Thomas Myers’ count. Miragliotta then separated them and brought the fight back to the feet. That is where Nolan, the sharper striker, was most dangerous, and Moicano was finished a round later. MMA Mania’s Tim Edwards also faulted Miragliotta for a late stoppage on top of the stand-up.
The backlash was immediate and loud. MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew wrote that in more than 20 years of watching the sport, it was the single worst piece of officiating he had ever seen, and he used the moment to crown Miragliotta the worst active referee in MMA, ahead of Herb Dean. MMA Mania’s Alex Behunin argued that Moicano was clearly working rather than stalling, and that he was already in the best possible position, so he had nowhere to advance to. MMA Fighting’s Between the Links panel pointed out that the Nevada Athletic Commission had not said a word about the call. Dana White did eventually react, according to MMA Mania.
Even the winner sided with Moicano’s camp. In comments shared by Ariel Helwani, Nolan said he didn’t think Miragliotta should have stood the fight up, adding that he would be furious if it had happened to him while he had the back. Nolan also said the episode had soured the win for him. He told Helwani he expects to keep one eye on the referee in every fight from now on.
Quick take
Miragliotta’s explanation is worse than silence. “Nothing going on” is how a referee describes two guys leaning on each other against the fence. It does not describe a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt hunting a choke from back control. Back mount is a position where the patient man wins, because the top guy is fighting hands, hiding his neck and burning energy the entire time. Calling that inactivity tells me the official in charge of a main event couldn’t read the ground game he was supposed to be policing. Parrumpa’s language won’t make any coaching manual, but his read of the fight was more accurate than the referee’s. Nolan admitting the call was wrong while the commission stays quiet is the most damning detail of all. The winner has said more about this stand-up than the people who license the man who made it.