Is the criticism fair?

While officiating errors occur in virtually every professional sport imaginable, MMA fans could be the most unforgiving of such lapses in judgment, and for several legitimate reasons.

Fans of other sports—baseball, basketball, football etc.—may claim otherwise, but it can be argued that an official’s decision in the midst of a high-impact mixed martial arts contest between two fast, powerful, and versatile professional fighters has the most immediate impact in the result of the contest than in any other sport.

Most of the time, fans and pundits alike agree with the referees’ judgment calls on fight finishes such as submissions and technical knockouts, but fouls are another issue entirely. Dan Miragliotta’s officiating in the UFC 99 bout between Mirko Filipovik and Mustapha Al Turk is just one recent example of both the difficulty of catching fouls when they first occur and of remedying the situation with fans and athletes alike after the fact.

Although some would voice their dissent regardless, the fact that Filipovik poked Al Turk in the eyes prior to unloading with a fight-ending barrage of punches was very difficult to pick up during the live action broadcast. Most viewers, both in attendance and at home watching the PPV broadcast did not even realize what happened until the slow-motion replay was shown after the bout was halted.

The prospect that Miragliotta did not catch the unintentional foul has angered Al Turk’s camp to the degree that they have gone on record to request that the results of the bout be overturned. Defenders of Filipovik—as well as Cro Cop himself—feel that this is unnecessary, claiming the Croatian striker would have finished his outmatched foe regardless of the eye poke, a sentiment that is entirely besides the point.

Unfortunately for Miragliotta, this is not the first time his actions have been called into question during the officiating of high-profile bouts both in and outside of the UFC. His premature stoppage of the Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson/James Thompson bout last October was questionable to put it lightly.

Not only did Miragliotta stop the bout before Thompson was knocked out, but the heavyweight journeyman was not even knocked down before he intervened. Fans flamed message boards following the bout, claiming that Elite XC officials had urged Miragliotta to do everything in his power to ensure that Ferguson won, despite the fact that Kimbo looked to be in far more danger than Thompson during several tense moments of the fight.

Add in a premature stoppage in the UFC 85 heavyweight bout between Brandon Vera and Fabricio Werdum, after which Vera openly questioned Miragliotta’s professional competence as a referee, and Rich Franklin’s frustration over the lack of action taken after suffering a severe poke to the eye at the fingers of Dan Henderson in their January main event at UFC 93, and Miragliotta is skating on thin ice in the eyes of many fans.

While some of these instances could conceivably have to do with poor officiating, it seems evident that—to some degree, at least—fans have labeled Miragliotta as a “ref to watch”, allowing two huge mistakes—at UFC 96 and UFC 98 respectively—committed by Yves Lavigne in bouts that he interfered with directly before stopping, to go largely unchallenged by comparison.

  The Lavigne bouts should be the hot topic for discussions regarding poor officiating in MMA, as they could have had serious ramifications for the welfare of the athletes involved. In Miragliotta’s case, and in the long run, stopping a fight too soon is far better than letting it go too long for the well-being of the athletes, as well as the image of the sport they represent. As for Miragliotta’s actions in the Rich Franklin/Dan Henderson bout, Nick Lembo of the New Jersey Athletic Control Board defended them shortly after the event.