Veteran referee McCarthy slams Miragliotta's stand-up that cost Moicano at UFC Vegas 123

Legendary MMA referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy has condemned Dan Miragliotta’s decision to stand up Renato Moicano from back control during the UFC Vegas 123 main event on Saturday, calling it a fundamental misunderstanding of the referee’s role.

Moicano had dominated the first round against Tom Nolan using back control with a body triangle, and was settling into the same dominant position in round two when Miragliotta inexplicably reset the fight to standing. The intervention proved decisive: Nolan quickly hurt Moicano after the stand-up, seized the momentum, and finished the fight by TKO in the third round.

Speaking on the Weighing In podcast on Monday, McCarthy — one of the most respected officials in MMA history — was unsparing in his assessment.

“What’s the purpose of MMA? The purpose of MMA is to showcase that your skillset is better than your opponent’s,” McCarthy said. “This isn’t something for anybody.”

McCarthy acknowledged his personal respect for Miragliotta while making clear the decision was indefensible by the sport’s own logic. He explained that referees are justified in instructing fighters to improve position from neutral or contested situations — such as guard or half-guard — because those are exchanges where both fighters retain offensive options. Back control, he argued, is categorically different.

“I’ve never taken someone out of back control, because when it gets to back control, how do I tell you to improve?” McCarthy said. “You’ve gotten to the very best position that you can get to in MMA. A position where your opponent doesn’t have a chance of finishing you.”

For McCarthy, the stand-up did not just cost Moicano the fight — it undermined the foundational premise of mixed martial arts. “You’ve gotten to a position where your opponent can’t finish you, but you can finish your opponent, and that’s what our sport is about,” he said. “That’s the whole concept of MMA: to be able to put yourself in a position where you can do damage to your opponent, but they can’t do damage to you.”

Miragliotta drew near-universal criticism from within the MMA community in the immediate aftermath of the bout. McCarthy’s remarks, given his decades of experience and close professional relationship with Miragliotta, carry particular weight. Both men have been part of the sport’s small referee community for many years, making the public rebuke all the more pointed.