Dan Mirgliotta will not be reffing Michael Page’s fights from now on.
‘Big Dan’ reffed Page’s fight at Bellator Dublin on Friday where he took a point from ‘MVP’ for unsportsmanlike. He was ground and pounding Richard Kiely and was saying stuff to his opponent where Miragliotta stepped in and took the point.
Following the fight, Michael Page revealed Dan Miragliotta called him a ‘f*****g piece of s*t
“I’m not going to say I didn’t say it, but I was wrong for saying it,” the referee told MMA Fighting. “I shouldn’t have gotten that angry, but I did. I screwed up.”
However, the ref says it was Page who started it after Kiely tried to shake ‘MVP’s’ hand but the fan-favorite told him to f**k off.
“I was pissed, bro,” Miragliotta said. “I’m 56-years-old, I’m a grown man. I’m older than him. I show respect to everybody. When someone says f*ck 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 f*cking piece of s*it.’
“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.’”
Dan Miragliotta also admits that he was frustarted with the matchmaking. He knew it was a terrible matchup where he says Page was calling his opponent a ‘f*****g b***h’ while fighting him.
“I go, ‘Bro, you are one of the most talented guys I’ve ever refereed,” he said. “I said, ‘Don’t ruin it with these antics. You beat the piss out of this guy, great job. You’re talented. You’re going places.’ He gave me a look like, ‘Screw you, f off.’”
In the end, all parties involved have asked for Big Dan to not ref Page’s fight. The commission has allowed that to happen and the ref is quite happy.
“I’ll never do his fights again, because I can never really look at him and not have that animosity toward him, because I’m not going to let somebody tell me to f*ck off, and there’s nothing I can do, and I’m an official,” Miragliotta said. “It’s not good for me or the sport.”
