‘Pissed’ Dan Miragliotta refuses to referee future Michael Page fights after Bellator ‘sh*t’ show
Longtime mixed martial arts (MMA) referee, Dan Miragliotta, took a point from Michael Page for unsportsmanlike conduct at the Bellator MMA event last weekend in Dublin, Ireland, to punish Page for acting like an obnoxious asshole.
Since that’s how “Venom” routinely acts before, during, and after each bout, the penalty came as a surprise to most members of the combat sports community, including Page, who told Miragliotta to “fuck off” after the fight.
“I was pissed, bro,” Miragliotta told MMA Fighting. “I’m 56 years old. I’m a grown man. I’m older than him. I show respect to everybody. When someone says ‘fuck off’ like that to me with disrespect, I lost it. I never should have said what I said. And I know I was wrong. Under my breath, I turned, and one of his coaches was right next to me, and I said, ‘What a fucking piece of shit.’ I knew I was wrong, and especially with it being his coach right there, and he said, ‘What did you say?’ And I said, ‘Man, I apologize. I never should have said that.’”
There was a lot of drama for a fight that lasted less than three minutes. Opponent Richard Kiely, who also got in on the action by flipping Page the bird, was stopped in the opening frame by way of flying knee knockout.
All three participants escaped disciplinary action.
With last weekend’s fiasco in the rear-view mirror, Miragliotta insists he will never again referee a fight that includes Page, and it looks like Michael Mazzulli, president of Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation, is on board with that request.
