Tom Nolan survived an early assault on the canvas to deliver his own vicious brand of grounding and pounding to finish Renato Moicano in the main event of UFC Vegas 123.
Showing patience and good defense, Nolan avoided Moicano’s numerous submission attempts early on, but then came back with devastating body work to finally put the struggling Brazilian on the ground. From there, Nolan threw some vicious shots until referee Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight with the end at 1:28 in the third round.
“It’s probably better than I expected,” Nolan said of the victory. “I came in here, I talked to God, I said this is the plan for me and I trust myself. I came in here ice cold and I delivered.
“This is the guy I wanted to fight. This is my job right now and I performed. Whatever the UFC wants to do with me next.”
A nasty kick from Moicano opened the action before ducking down and taking Nolan to the ground. A moment later, Moicano was on Nolan’s back with a body triangle lock.
Moicano was quick to look for submissions with Nolan stuck on defense before getting back to his feet. Moicano maintained his position on his back while trying to lock in the rear naked choke.
This forced Nolan back to the ground, but he survived until the end of the round.
As the second round began, Noland was able to defend Moicano’s first takedown attempt, but not again after the Brazilian got the body lock and simply knocked him to the ground. Moicano hung on the back again with the body triangle as Nolan was stuck playing defense again.
In a bizarre move, Miragliotta actually stood them up, leading to Nolan scoring a knockdown as he exploded on Moicano trying to finish right at the end of the round.
Nolan followed up with a near head kick and brutal knee strike to open the third round, but Moicano still took the fight to the ground. His success was only momentary as Nolan reversed his positions and he immediately began striking.
Noland was relentless with his grounding and striking until the referee saw enough to stop the fight as the Australian scored the biggest victory of his career.
One of the top prospects since joining the UFC, Nolan now has a signature win on his resume after beating Moicano and he now faces even tougher competition in the top 15 lightweight rankings.
Gn sports
