Referee Dan Miragliotta explains his now controversial stoppage of Triad Combat’s headliner between Frank Mir at Kubrat Pulev.
Unlike some of his long-time contemporaries, Dan Miragliotta has maintained his reputation as one of the best and most reliable referees in prizefighting today. But on Saturday’s Triad Combat event, the veteran official was involved in some controversy because of how he handled his duties.
Pulev’s round 1 TKO on Frank Mir, wtf was the ref doing pic.twitter.com/Sp38cHvt0w
— BoxingExclusive (@BoxingExclusive) November 28, 2021
As you see in the video above, Miragliotta seemed to have hesitated in putting a stop to the headliner bout between Frank Mir and Kubrat Pulev. Mir was visibly out on his feet, but Miragliotta let the action continue a little bit more.
And even after the ex-UFC champ was rocked by another clean shot, it took a few more seconds before Miragliotta finally intervened.
Miragliotta got the chance to share his side of the story in an interview with MMA Fighting on Monday.
“I was waiting for Pulev to come in,” he explained. “That would have made it so much easier for me because as soon as he would have made one step as if he was attacking, I was in a position with my left shoulder and the left side of my body to bump him, push him out, and stop the fight. But he didn’t engage – he backed off, and that’s why I kept watching Mir.
“Then Mir didn’t go down and didn’t put his hands back up – as soon as Pulev made that slight step, I stepped in and stopped the fight. It was easy.”
Miragliotta also explained that he was giving Mir a chance to take a knee and instead receive an eight-count, which was part of the rules.
“I didn’t want to allow Pulev to come in and hit him again,” he said. “But when Pulev backed out, I figured Mir had a chance to either go down and take that knee or put his hands up, and he didn’t do either one, so that’s why I stopped it.”
Mir may have lost the fight on Saturday, but according to him, he was due for a seven-figure payday courtesy of Triller.