After Michael Page’s fight against Richard Kiely, he accused referee Dan Miragliotta of calling him a “piece of s-it”. Miragliotta has now apologised for his actions, admitting he “screwed up.”
Page defeated Kiely by first-round flying knee KO at Bellator 227 this past Friday. Talking to MMA Fighting, Miragliotta admitted Page telling him to “f-ck off” shouldn’t have gotten him that angry.
“I’m not going to say I didn’t say it, but I was wrong for saying it,” Miragliotta said. “I shouldn’t have gotten that angry, but I did. I screwed up.”
“I was pissed, bro,” he continued. “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.
Miragliotta continued by saying he will never referee Page’s fights again. The referee also expressed his frustration at Page being allowed to tell him to “f-ck off” and not being allowed to do react in anyway to the Brit’s behaviour.
“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.”