Josh Emmett Blasts Dan Miragliotta For UFC Orlando Illegal Blows
Josh Emmett is still upset how his most recent fight ended.
As a result of that, he is still speaking out about it. According to Emmett, he had no idea about an illegal knee or potentially illegal elbows.
If you recall, in the main event of UFC on FOX 28 that took place on Saturday night at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, Jeremy Stephens appeared to land an illegal knee to Emmett while attempting to finish him that ultimately lead to a second-round knockout.
There were also two elbows that Stephens threw that landed to the back of Emmett’s head.
Emmett ended up with three broken orbital bones and had his teeth jarred out of place.
Now, he has gone on record by stating in a recent interview that he thinks referee Dan Miragliotta should have stepped in at some point to correct things.
“I’m not saying he’s a dirty fighter at all, but after watching it, I just wish I had more of a fair chance,” Emmett told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I wish Dan would have done his job. If he would have stopped the fight, I would have gotten a little time to recover or they maybe took a point away from Stephens. It could have been a completely different outcome.”
“I just thought it was a blow,” Emmett said of the knee. “I didn’t know what hit me. But it definitely skimmed me after watching it and coming down. And regardless of the new rules or the old rules, I was still a downed opponent, because both knees were down. Even if one hand or two hands was up, it was still an illegal blow.
“It was a fight. I know he wasn’t trying to do that in the heat of the battle. But man, there’s a reason why there’s rules in place. So I think they should have implemented them. It’s frustrating now. But it is what it is.”
Make no mistake about it though, he doesn’t think Stephens intentionally threw the potentially illegal blows. Instead, he just wishes Miragliotta would have intervened.
“You’re trying to win the fight, we both are,” Emmett said. “I don’t believe he’s a dirty fighter, either. I don’t believe he was doing it on purpose. But I can’t say that, because I don’t know what he was thinking. So maybe he was, but I would hope he wasn’t trying to do that, which I don’t think he is.
But it’s still, a rule is a rule. I just can’t get over that. Otherwise, there should be no rules and it should be Pride rules. If there are rules that are set, they should be obeyed.”
“I would like a rematch,” Emmett said. “I won the first round, I was winning the second round, doing really well. He caught me just perfect, little left hook on the chin. I was composing, getting back up and then I just felt like some of those illegal blows made it a lot worse for me.”
