TORONTO – The Michael Page vs. Richard Kiely fight last month at Bellator Europe 4 could have been handled better by referee Dan Miragliotta, according to veteran official turned Bellator analyst John McCarthy.
Speaking at a DAZN/Bellator event this week, McCarthy explained how MMA has the perfect counter-balance to trash talk.
“The best part about fighting, you can say anything you want about me,” McCarthy said, before later adding: “Usually, it settles itself out because I get to punch you in the mouth. That’s a great equalizer.”
McCarthy explained that things can get out of control if the referee allows himself to become emotionally involved in the matchup when insults are flying, as he discussed the situation that occurred during Page’s TKO win over Kiely.
Running through the timeline of events, McCarthy explained: “He starts picking Kiely apart, (and) he ends up on top of Kiely. Before that happened, Kiely had flipped him off inside the cage … not a nice thing to do.
“Kiely falls down, Michael goes on top of him, and he is landing what we would call very good ground-and-pound. He is landing big shots, and he gets to a point where he knows ‘I got this guy. There is no way he beating me.’ And he acts like he’s taking a selfie of himself in the moment, and the referee stopped it, took him out of the position, took a point from him for unsportsmanlike conduct. He didn’t take a point (mimes middle finger) for that, but he took a point (mimes taking a selfie) for that.”
McCarthy explained that Miragliotta’s actions following Page’s “selfie” were those of an official who had become too emotionally involved.
“This is when a referee is getting over-involved in the fight,” McCarthy said. “It’s not about your emotions. It’s not about you getting mad. It’s not about ‘I don’t like the showboat.’ Is what he’s doing, does it negatively affect the fight? Is he doing something that’s putting this other fighter at risk? Is he negatively affecting the outcome of this fight? If he is, do something about it. If not, say ‘Michael! Knock it off!’ and that’s it.”
Miragliotta’s actions and alleged post-fight comments toward Page were slammed by Page, who said he didn’t want Miragliotta to officiate his fights anymore.
McCarthy said he’s spoken to Miragliotta about his handling of the fight, sharing that the official admitted he could have handled the situation better.
“That human being came out and said ‘I made a mistake. I got involved when I shouldn’t have done,'” McCarthy said. “I talked to him about it. We all make mistakes, and we’re all human. My big thing, especially with referees: If you make a mistake, do not try to hide from the mistake, don’t make an excuse for the mistake. Own it. ‘I did it. I made a mistake. Here’s how I made a mistake. This is what I’ve done to fix it so it doesn’t happen again.’
“Move on. If people can’t live with that, that’s their problem.”
