Kevin Vallejos jokes Dan Miragliotta will referee his UFC Qatar fight with Aljamain Sterling

Sterling said the referee's stand-up in Moicano v Nolan left him close to "storming that cage". He meets Vallejos in the co-main event in Doha on 21 November.

Kevin Vallejos has joked that Dan Miragliotta will referee his UFC Qatar fight against Aljamain Sterling, after Sterling said the official's stand-up in the UFC Vegas 123 main event left him "fuming".

"Dana told me that Dan Miragliotta will be my referee," Vallejos wrote on X, with a laughing emoji, in response to Sterling's criticism.

Sterling had said on his YouTube channel: "I felt like I was close to storming that cage. I was angry, I was fuming. Even this morning, I was daydreaming: what possessed this man to do such a thing?"

Miragliotta stood Renato Moicano and Tom Nolan up in round two with Moicano on Nolan's back and a body triangle locked in. Nolan stopped Moicano at 1:28 of round three. UFC commentator Laura Sanko said on the night that "Aljamain Sterling was freaking out" in the crowd.

Back control is a strong part of the grappling of Sterling (26-5), the former bantamweight champion. He faces Vallejos (18-1) in the co-main event at ABHA Arena in Doha on 21 November.

Vallejos has signed a new UFC contract and wrote that a win over Sterling would earn him a fight with Alexander Volkanovski. "Guys if WE beat Sterling, WE get Volk," he wrote. Volkanovski, the featherweight champion, has said Sterling deserves the next title shot if he beats Vallejos.

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