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[Spoon]

With Sakara's team planning appeal of UFC 154 DQ, ref Miragliotta explains his decision | MMAjunkie.com

"As long as hand makes contact with the ear, it's a legal strike," Miragliotta told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com). "If you miss the ear and only hit the back of the head, it's illegal."

"Even though most of your hand is hitting the back of the head, if your pinkie knuckle is hitting him in the ear, it's a legal shot," said Miragliotta. "Maybe that's what people don't understand. They said, 'Oh, it's the back of the head.' It is the back of the head, but it's hitting him in the ear.

"You get a guy like Shane Carwin or Brock Lesnar, their hands are so big, when they hit you in the ear, they're still hitting the mohawk. That whole hand is about five or six inches wide. The earlobe is two inches. So four inches of your hand is hitting that mohawk, and that's considered a legal strike."

The Unified Rules of MMA, which are followed by most major athletic commissions, state that head strikes that touch the ear are acceptable. Illegal, however, are those that solely hit an area that runs from the crown of the head to the top of the ears with a one-inch variance – the so-called "Mohawk" area – or the area from the top of the ears down to the nape of the neck. The rule was modified in 2009 to make a distinction between the "Mohawk" definition used by most commissions and a "headphone" definition used by the California State Athletic Commission.

[v3xi]

I was hoping for an explanation as to why it was a Cote win and not a no contest.

[mma #1 fan]

With the ref never once saying hey stop hitting the back of the head I thought it was total bullshit. However from what I understand Canada has the replay rule ( I like that rule) however to call a DQ without giving a fighter any verbal warning is bullshit it should be called a NC & have them fight again ASAP.

[Sakara=Excitement]

What the fuck did I just read?

[Adambomb]

Originally Posted by v3xi

I was hoping for an explanation as to why it was a Cote win and not a no contest.

What's so difficult to understand about a DQ? If a fighter does something blatantly illegal &/or his opponent cannot continue because of it then it's a DQ.

If these situations came up & the fight was just ruled a NC then fighters would pull all sorts of crap when behind to get out of a loss. You have to punish the offenders, even if it seemed somewhat accidental as was the case here.

[Mac]

Originally Posted by v3xi

I was hoping for an explanation as to why it was a Cote win and not a no contest.

I was hoping for an explanation as to why he didn't stop Sakara from cheating in the first place.

[Pasha K]

What exactly Sakaa's team are planning to appeal???
He landed like 5 or 6 ilegal shots, it is obviously a DQ. They must simply be happy that he is still on the roster and will not be cut after a history of constantly pulling out of fights and a 3 fight losing streak.

[Dr. MMA]

First of all, I don't know why people are acting like this should have been a no contest. These were horrible illegal strikes, that led to a finish. Fighters should never be able to get a pass on that.

Secondly, is Miragliotta blind? Sure the first or second shot may have touched the ear, but the rest weren't even close to hitting the ear. They were all clearly back of the head with the last one having the potential to do severe damage to the cerebellum/brain stem border of the brain.

Miragliotta should be fined or suspended for this. With that vantage point, and that many number of clear illegal and dangerous shots, your judgement should be questioned. Further, justifying his call questions his ability to interpret future similar situations.

[noahm]

I am not sure what he is trying to argue. If he didn't make a call at the time because they looked "legal", then I find it difficult for him to justify the DQ dec. You can't have it both ways. A mind-change after replay is understandable when the view isn't right smack in front of you.

That said, the DQ was the right call according to the rules. The screw-up was Dan not stopping the sequence right away.

Dan Miragliotta contends that most of the shots that hit Patrick Cote just prior to a stoppage against Alessio Sakara were legal blows.

Three weren't, however, and the longtime referee said he issued two verbal warnings before the third blow knocked Cote out and forced his intervention.

Dan claims there were three illegal blows. Dan says he warned him twice before the "third" (and final apparently) "illegal" blow. So I guess Dan clearly discerned the first illegal blow, gave a warning, clearly saw the second and gave a second warning, then stopped it after the third. Dan is full of crap.

[Fe1]

Not like he just landed one or two accidental shots to the back of the head. There were at least 8 or 9. You always hate seeing a fight end like that but the ref can't just let it slide. I think he made the right call but I'd still like to see a rematch