Dustin Poirier supports UFC rule change that would replace referee intervention with fines for fighters

Dan Miragliotta opted to relieve Moicano and Tom Nolan due to a lack of activity as the Brazilian supported his opponent.

‘The Diamond’ believes that one way to prevent this from happening inside the Octagon in the future would be to introduce a card system.

Dustin Poirier says UFC should implement yellow card system to avoid standing referees

Dustin Poirier suggested the UFC should allow referees to hand out yellow cards for inactivity when reflecting on last weekend’s lightweight main event.

“Bring back the yellow card,” he said on UFC’s Deep Waters. “10% of the purse. The referee doesn’t need to get involved and stop (the fight).”

While Joe Rogan has pushed for the removal of all stand-ups, the card system would financially motivate fighters not to stall in wrestling positions.

Despite this idea, Poirier also argued that neither Renato Moicano nor Tom Nolan were behind in this fight before the stand-up, saying: “It’s just a top fight.”

This would still potentially create a problem where a referee might not need to take a stand away from a fighter, but the official would still have to judge what merits dealing a card.

For example, many would assume that in Moicano’s case he still demonstrated effective grappling without landing damage or submission threat and therefore would not warrant a card.

Promotions like PRIDE and ONE Championship both used a card system, with three yellow cards in a fight resulting in a fighter’s disqualification.

That’s what happened to former UFC fighter Arjan Bhullar in 2024, when he suffered a disqualification loss in the ONE Championship for “shyness” due to not engaging with his opponent.

In PRIDE, all the fines issued via the cards, which helped keep the ten-minute opening rounds from having a lot of stalls, went toward promotion.

Given the current debate over fighter pay, it seems unlikely that fans will agree with a rule change that could take money away from athletes and give it back to the UFC.

You’re Dana White for the day, what’s one change you would make to the UFC?

UFC Vegas 123 stand-up may have been costlier for Renato Moicano than a yellow card

Most fans and fighters seem to agree that Renato Moicano should never have been stood up because of his dominant position.

After winning the majority of the second round with his grappling, the Brazilian was injured by his opponent’s strikes when he was forced to stand by his side again.

The idea of ​​the yellow card system would be to motivate Moicano to inflict more damage from this position, although she is already dominant, with the risk of a fine.

Moicano ended up losing half of his purse due to the UFC’s show/win pay structure, after coming close to winning the first two rounds before the stand-up arrived.

Add to favorite sources