Dan Miragliotta

Dan Miragliotta (born August 30, 1963) is a professional mixed martial arts referee and judge from the United States, best known for officiating numerous bouts promoted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), dating back to UFC 78. He was credited as one the best referees in MMA, as well as one of the most recognizable and active referees on the promotion in both 2022 and 2023. As of August 2026, Miragliotta has officiated 1,668 MMA fights. His work would lead to other promotions asking Miragliotta to referee at their own events. Since then, he has been "the third man" in many fights on several important events held by the promotion, among these:

UFC 87: Assignments: Tamdan McCrory vs. Luke Cummo Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch (main event) UFC 112: Assignments: DeMarques Johnson vs. Brad Blackburn Phil Davis vs. Alexander Gustafsson Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia (main event) UFC 172: Assignments: Danny Castillo vs. Charlie Brenneman Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira UFC 198: Assignments: Francisco Trinaldo vs. Yancy Medeiros Stipe Miocic vs.Fabricio Werdum UFC 223: Assignments: Devin Clark vs. Mike Rodriguez Chris Gruetzemacher vs. Joe Lauzon Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Al Iaquinta (main event) As of December 2024, Miragliotta's latest appearance in the promotion was UFC on ESPN: Covington vs. Buckley, where he officiated three fights, including the main event.

In other promotions Although best known for his role in the beginnings of MMA and appearances in the UFC, throughout his career, Miragliotta has continued to work for many other MMA promotions such as: Bellator MMA, Professional Fighters League, Cage Warriors, Cage Fury Fighting Championships, Art of War, and Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), among others. He has also participated in many importants events in these promotions, most notably Bellator 180 and Bellator 214.

Controversy While well-liked by most athletes, vs. James Thompson. In the first round, Thompson was able to take Ferguson several times and control the pace of the fight. This happened again in the second round where, towards the end, Ferguson would be smothered and would take several shots to the head without referee intervention. In the third round, Ferguson punched Thompson hard, hitting him the ear and causing the cyst that was in it to burst open, which lead to a great amount of blood pouring out. Thompson would go on to take four more headshots before Miragliotta stopped the fight, 38 seconds into the round, although Thompson was still standing up and moving. The stoppage was heavily criticised, arguing an unprepared Ferguson was set up with an easy match-up that the promotion hoped he would perform well in. It was even argued that the match was "rigged" as the blood should not have been cause for a stoppage, since it was not in Thompson's eyes. Miragliotta would go on to defend his stoppage by claiming that his stoppage was not due to the blood, although it was "one of the most disgusting things I've seen in a fight". Instead, his justification for stopping the fight was that, by the look of Thompson's eyes, he was "out of it". He would later go on to declare that while Vera was trying to reassure him that he was okay, he misinterpreted it as a verbal submission.

A third instance of controversy occurred at Bellator 227 (also known as Bellator Dublin). There, Miragliotta would referee the bout between Michael "Venom" Page (also known as MVP) and Richard Kiley. Page would win the fight via knockout from a flying knee. However, before this, Miragliotta would deduct a point from him because of "unsportsmanlike conduct" after he insulted his opponent. At the end of the fight, Miragliotta attempted to make Page and Kiley shake hands to show sportsmanship. However, Page would tell him to "fuck off". Neither of them would be punished by the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation for their actions.

Miragliotta's next controversial moment would occur on UFC on ESPN 7, involving his handling and stoppage of the bout between Ben Rothwell and Stefan Struve. In the first round of the bout, Struve was winning the striking exchanges. However, he was hit with a low blow from which he took almost five minutes to recover. In the second round, Struve would be hit with another low blow which he would also take long to recover from. During this recovery time, Miragliotta would tell him that he was up two rounds to zero, and if he chose not to continue, his decision would be to declare the fight a no contest. The fight would continue with a point deduction to Rothwell. Shortly after the bout resumed, Rothwell would overwhelm Struve and Miragliotta stopped the fight when Struve crumpled to the canvas with three seconds left on the round. However, Struve would later defend Miragliotta, declaring that the referee was just trying to allow him to make a good decision. in which Miragliotta would be a judge. Barber would go on to win the bout via split decision and Miragliotta's scorecards would draw negative feedback from both fighters and fans, as he scored the bout 30-27 in favor of Barber. This came into great contrast with Chris Lee's and Frank Collazo's scorecards, scoring the bout 30-29 for Lee and Barber, respectively. In Lewis's fights against Tai Tuivasa and Sergei Pavlovich, in UFC 271 and UFC 277, respectively, Lewis would complain about Miragliotta's decision to stop the fight. Dana White, CEO and president of the UFC, also considered the stoppage to be early but did not see it as a great mistake, commenting "Miragliotta made a mistake, but it happens." Later that night in the Mike Malott vs. Kevin Holland co-main event, Malott landed two low blows in the opening round; Miragliotta issued warnings and did not deduct a point, and the fight continued to a Malott decision, prompting further criticism of the officiating.

Outside of mixed martial arts Outside of mixed martial arts, Miragliotta has also acted as a referee in bare-knuckle boxing for BKFC and kickboxing for Gut Check Promotions.