Referee Dan Miragliotta injured during Baroni/Villasenor; required shoulder surgery
Down at BattleCageXtreme 5 last weekend in Atlantic City, N.J. we ran into the head MMA referee for the NJSACB, Dan Miragliotta. The massive ref (6-4, 296) had his left arm in a sling, recovering from a recent shoulder surgery. Miragliotta injured his left shoulder at the end of the Phil Baroni/Joey Villasenor fight at the debut CBS Saturday Nights Fights event on May 31. He told 5 Oz of Pain that as he separated the two fighters, he grabbed the cage for balance and then got shoved, wrenching his left shoulder.
Miragliotta was all smiles throughout, as friends, fans and fighters kept coming up to him asking how his arm was doing. He should be back in action in several weeks.
(thanks to CageToday.com for the pic)
It’s a sign from God — retire!!
Hmm… with an injured shoulder he sure was eager to get between James Thompson and Kimbo.
Hopefully someone checked out his head while he was at the hospital….
Somebody needs to check out the video. Miragliotta was clearly defending himself when that fight was stopped. It was premature, I say.
Does he get workmans comp for that injury??? lol
Speaking of that Do MMA fighters have a special insurance for when they go to the hospital after a match? Does the UFC pay for it?
We all know he actually hurt that arm picking up that large check that Gary Shaw paid him off with.
Na hope Dan gets well soon.
Thanks for the pic credit Matt. It was good meeting you there. A good night of fights, wouldn’t you agree?
Isn’t Dan over 6’4? he was slightly taller than James Thompson. LOL at #6. Yeah, it was a poor judging on Dan’s part.(kimbo fight)
maybe were related! not to many Miragliottas around!