Miragliotta emphasized, “You know me and have spoken with me about other fights, my job is to protect the fighters and I try and do my best to do that.”

Sadollah began the fight lunging forward in a 1-2 combination, but ate a Hendricks straight left that backed Sadollah up stunned. Hendricks smelled blood in the Octagon and followed Sadollah landing a series of uppercuts.

Miragliotta said, “What made me stop the fight was the fact that, after the multiple uppercuts by Hendricks, I felt that Sadollah was out and went limp. He fell down to his hands and knees and just stayed there. From where I was, I could not see his eyes to see if he was out, but I felt that he was not defending himself and, after several more punches that went unanswered, I stopped the fight.”

The skyrocketing popularity of MMA combined with former WWE professional wrestler and Fighters.com’s second-ranked heavyweight Brock Lesnar‘s (4-1) rapid ascension to the UFC title has brought hundreds of thousands of new fans to the sport, many of whom aren’t familiar with combat sports and the rules of MMA. Fighters.com ruled the stoppage appropriate immediately after the fight based on Sadollah’s lack of intelligent defense as Hendricks wailed on his head, which is the standard used by MMA referees to ensure the safety of fighters. It’s the responsibility of the fighter to intelligently defend themselves, not the responsibility of the referee to risk the fighter taking permanent damage as the ref tries to verify the fighter’s state of conciousness.

A proud professional, Miragliotta verified his call immediately after the stoppage: “When I stopped the fight and got between Sadollah and Hendricks, Sadollah still looked glassy eyed and asked me what happened. I feel that he was still a little out of it while standing there talking to me.” And, when Fighters.com spoke to Miragliotta, he had just finished watching the fight again to examine his work.

The frightening effects of head injuries are well-documented. The father of former wrestler Chris Benoit blamed the severe brain abnormalities caused by multiple concussions for Benoit’s murder of his wife and child and subsequent suicide. Last March, actress Natasha Richardson passed on after what she considered a mild head bump after a tumble while skiing.

Sadollah is a 28-year old promising martial artist who’ll return from his first loss to win many fights. There was no reason to risk the potential head injury that could’ve been caused by allowing Sadollah to absorb more punishment from Hendricks while Sadollah didn’t defend himself.

Miragliotta made the correct call at UFC 101.