It’s all good between Michael Page and referee Dan Miragliotta, at least according to “MVP.”
The Bellator welterweight opened up about his controversial past with Miragliotta on Thursday in the lead up to his main event bout with Gianni Melillo at Bellator Europe 6 in London.
Page (15-1 MMA, 10-1 BMMA) ran into issues with Miragliotta earlier this year when he knocked out Richard Kiely at Bellator 227. Page, known for his flashy and taunting style, did his usual antics facing Kiely during and after their fight, which Miragliotta, who was in charge of overseeing the bout, didn’t take too well.
“Yeah, its all squashed,” Page told MMA Junkie. “He came over, apologized and he didn’t need to, so I have much respect for him. I’ve always said and I still think he’s a good referee. I just felt he had that issue with myself, but he cleared that up and we moved on.”
Although it seems everything is cool between the two parties, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be working together in the future. Page respects Miragliotta’s experience and officiating skills, but doesn’t want him to referee his future fights.
“There’s so many other referees out there anyway, there’s no need,” Page explained. “I think there’s now going to be everyone watching extra close and it might be extra pressure on him. I don’t want him to be pressured to do anything if it’s either for me or against me, I just want him to come in and be the amazing referee that he is.
“So I think it’s better we just leave it as it is, there’s loads of amazing referees and I’ll just go along with my career.”
