Nolan stops Moicano after disputed restart; Smith sweeps Brown

A restart changed the shape of the main event

Tom Nolan survived Renato Moicano’s back control, turned the fight with his striking and stopped the veteran in the third round Saturday at Meta APEX in Las Vegas. Wrestling Observer/F4W’s Ryan Frederick recorded the TKO at 1:28 of Round 3. CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri, reporting from ringside, also confirmed the third-round stoppage.

The finish followed a disputed decision by referee Dan Miragliotta in Round 2. Moicano had taken Nolan down and secured his back when Miragliotta brought the fighters to their feet for inactivity. Both Frederick and Mahjouri questioned that intervention from a position in which Moicano was controlling Nolan. Their criticism is a judgment about the restart, separate from the recorded result.

Moicano had established that same route to control in the first round. He took Nolan down, moved to his back and pursued a choke without finishing it. Nolan survived the position again in the second. After the restart, his striking hurt Moicano and left the Brazilian defending through the end of the round.

Nolan followed up in the third. Frederick’s account describes kicks and punches preceding a ground scramble, Nolan reversing into top position and a sequence of elbows and punches that brought the stoppage. Against an opponent listed No. 12 at lightweight entering the card, Nolan had to survive extended grappling pressure before he could make his striking count.

Smith’s control carries the co-main

Jacobe Smith’s co-main win over Randy Brown was more sustained: all three judges scored it 30-26. Frederick reported Smith finishing the three-round fight in top position after repeatedly getting Brown down. Low kicks helped Smith close distance, and his ground work kept Brown from building an effective striking response.

Mahjouri reported Smith calling for Sean Brady or Gabriel Bonfim afterward. That is a request for an opponent, not a booked fight. The immediate evidence is a clear decision over Brown and another demonstration that Smith can turn his entries into prolonged control.

Elsewhere on the main card, Luana Santos beat Yana Santos and Cody Durden beat Ode Osbourne, both by unanimous 29-28 scores. Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani defeated Farman Hasanov by a third-round doctor stoppage. Those completed outcomes were confirmed in the named reporters’ result accounts.