Brendan Schaub isn’t happy with Dan Miragliotta’s officiating during Michael Page’s Bellator Dublin bout.
This past Friday (Sept. 27), Page took on Richard Kiely on the Bellator Dublin card. There was a lot of bad blood in the buildup and it boiled over in the bout. Kiely flipped the bird at Page and “Venom” taunted his opponent. After posing as if he was taking a selfie, referee Miragliotta took a point from Page. “MVP” ended up landing a flying knee for the knockout finish in the first round.
Brendan Schaub Weighs In On Dan Miragliotta’s Officiating
Page and Miragliotta exchange words after the bout was over. Miragliotta admitted to calling Page a “f*cking piece of sh*t.” During the latest episode of his Below The Belt podcast, Schaub criticized Miragliotta.
“Not your job dude. You’re dictating the fight. Not your job. You’re there to make sure those guys are safe. You’re not there to dictate the entertainment. What you find is the standard of mixed martial arts, that’s not why you’re in there. That is not your job. Do I agree with everything they’re doing? No. But your job resume [sic] doesn’t say, it doesn’t say in your guidelines, ‘make sure they’re being respectful towards martial arts.’ Cause if we did that, you don’t have Conor, you don’t have the Diaz bros, you don’t have a ton of guys. You’re stepping over what your job requires you to do and we’re not looking for that out of you. I don’t need that out of you.”
Schaub went on to say that while he likes Miragliotta as a person, he feels he was out of line in Page’s bout.
“These guys are entertainers. Michael ‘Venom’ Page is the biggest entertainer in Bellator sports. His style is entertainment. We tune in for that entertainment. I don’t tune in to have you relegate these guys on what you think they should behave in there. Cause you’ve never been in there. I don’t need you to do that and I love him. He’s a great referee. I’ve met him many times, I think he’s reffed some of my fights. Dan Miragliotta’s a great dude, don’t need you to do that though my man. You don’t dictate what these guys do in there.”
