Teddy Atlas was not a fan of Dan Miragliotta’s stoppage at the latest Triller event. MMA fighter Frank Mir lost by TKO to Kubrat Pulev in the first round.
The stoppage was heavily criticized as MMA fighter Frank Mir appeared to be completely out on his feet. Dan Miragliotta didn’t stop the bout until Mir stood in the corner of the ‘Trigon’ with his hands down and didn’t do anything.
“We don’t exaggerate these things, we don’t look to do that, but [Frank Mir] could have really got hurt bad,” Atlas told listeners, speaking with his co-host Ken Rideout. “I mean, if it wasn’t for Pulev, not the ref – that ref should never fight again – not for the ref, not because of anything other than, really, where you wouldn’t expect it; Pulev had to be his own ref, he had to be his own conscience. He had to use control, discipline, character, humanity…”
“The match never should have been made,” Atlas added, after describing Mir’s state at the end of the bout at length. “You talk about making good matches? [Mir] was retired from the UFC, he lost four of his last five… and he’s 42 years old. I mean come on! And he’s not in shape. The fight never should have been made.
“The thing I go back to though, that still kind of gets where you can’t quite understand, is how do you have a referee not stopping that? That’s something I couldn’t really get my answer to.
“First of all, if that’s the guy, why is [Miragliotta] in the ring? He doesn’t know why he’s in the ring. If there’s ever an example of why you need a referee, that was it; to protect a guy, to save a guy, to save a life. To literally save a life, and he’s standing there. [Pulev] could throw another two, three punches if he didn’t decide not to throw them. I was trying to get an answer to why—I’m a stubborn son of a gun, you know that, and sometimes I want an answer. And I’m saying, ‘How is that the ref? And how is he allowed to be the ref? And how does he not recognize that moment is the moment he needed to be a ref?”
Dan Miragliotta received a lot of flack for his handling of the fight. Frank Mir has been dabbling in boxing as well as MMA for the past few years.
Follow Us
Subscribe