Dan Miragliotta talks about his decision to give Cheick Kongo more time against Pat Barry

Top rated referee, Dan Miragliotta has been speaking about his decision to let the UFC on Versus 4 main event fight between Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry go a little bit longer when all seemed lost for the Frenchman, explaining his reactions to such a situation have changed slightly over the past couple of years.

Speaking via MMAJunkie.com, Miragliotta said:

“Before, it was reaction to me. As soon as I saw somebody knocked down or who I thought was knocked out, immediately I jumped in and stopped the fight. Now, what I do is I watch it. Before I jump in and stop it, I try to take a split-second to look again to make sure that he’s definitely out, he’s not stepping in to reach, or anything like that. I try to give myself a little bit of a second chance before I made that final decision.

“I was already stepping in to stop it, and as Pat was throwing more strikes, I realized a lot of the strikes were missing and Kongo was reaching in for the leg, so I backed off. It was that close. I thought once I stepped back, there would probably be one or two more punches and then I would have had to stop it for good.”

Kongo will have moved neatly up the division’s title ladder with this impressive win and he’ll now be searching for that much needed win over another title contender to take him to the next level and who knows, maybe secure that all important shot at the gold. Stay tuned to MMABay for news on when and where he’ll return as we get it.
By Michael Pepper