Referees, Judges Selected for UFC 248 Championship Bouts

Dan Miragliotta will be the third man in the cage when Israel Adesanya defends his middleweight crown against Yoel Romero in the UFC 248 headliner.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission selected the referees and judges for the two title bouts at the upcoming event during a meeting on Wednesday. UFC 248 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on March 7.

Sal D’Amato, Chris Lee and Ron McCarthy will serve as cageside judges for Adesanya vs. Romero. Miragliotta will earn $1,900 for his work, while the judges will receive $1,600 apiece.

This will be the first time that Miragliotta has officiated a UFC bout involving Adesanya. However, “Big Dan” was in the cage for Romero’s split-decision loss to then champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 225.

Meanwhile, Keith Peterson will oversee the strawweight championship clash between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the evening’s co-main event. Mike Bell, Derek Cleary and Eric Colon will score the bout. Referee and judge pay will be the same as for the headliner.

Peterson will be refereeing his first Zhang bout, but he has been in the Octagon with Jedrzejczyk on three different occasions — most recently for the Polish fighter’s win over Tecia Torres at UFC on Fox 30.