Tag: Kevin Lee

Fallout: Chokes, Referees, and Kevin Lee, Tony Ferguson Talking Major Trash

UFC Fight Night 112 saw some major controversy in the main event. The fight between Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee was anticipated to be a high stakes game between two fighters hoping to enter title contention with a win Sunday night. But instead of everyone speaking on how great the main event was, everyone is talking about Mario Yamasaki’s supposed “flub.”

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UFC Fight Night 112 saw some major controversy in the main event. The fight between Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee was anticipated to be a high stakes game between two fighters hoping to enter title contention with a win Sunday night. But instead of everyone speaking on how great the main event was, everyone is talking about Mario Yamasaki’s supposed “flub.”

Watch the fight the first time around, it appeared that Michael Chiesa was still conscious and willing to continue his grudge match again Kevin Lee. Yamasaki intervened and called the fight which seemed to many observers to be an early stoppage. Here’s the thing about being a ref: it’s an absolutely thankless job. No one appreciates what these refs have to go through with each and every fight they have to call. The thing about this fight was that it was apparent in multiple viewings that Michael Chiesa was on his way to blacking out completely.

The choke was locked in tight, there was thirty plus seconds left, Lee was cranking his choke and Chiesa’s arms went limp, eyes fading and rolling back into his head, a clear response from a blood choke rather than a wind choke. With Yamasaki on top of the action he had the best view out of anyone present. Rather than letting Chiesa go out like a “warrior” Yamasaki instead stopped the match. Sure, we want fighters to be given a chance at victory, at accomplishing the goals they’ve been obsessed with for weeks of training. Problem is that their ego can get in the way of their health at times and that’s what the refs are there for. As a result we have an angry fighter, angry fans, and people cursing the ref for his utter stupidity. Funny thing is, while the tough call may not be the most popular, Yamasaki had a job to do, did what he thought was right and shouldn’t be demonized for it.

On a side note, I never knew I wanted a Kevin Lee versus Tony Ferguson fight before last night. Ferguson congratulated Lee like a true class act, but the brash Detroit native took things a different way. In true McGregor form, Lee wasted no time in his additional time on television as he relegated the rest of the lightweight division as chumps and potentially set up a match between himself and Ferguson.

It was entertaining as hell and is just the kind of thing you want to see if you’re the UFC. Two personalities clashing making for a potentially exciting grudge match in the cage. It’ll sell and at the end of the day this sport is a business. Dollars and cents rule the day and Kevin Lee is setting himself up nicely to start making a nice profit.

What are your biggest takeaways from UFC Fight Night 112?

Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.

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Dana White Destroys Mario Yamasaki Along With Michael Chiesa

The mixed martial arts world is collectively in a minor upheaval today over Mario Yamasaki’s puzzling, controversial decision to call off the Kevin Lee vs. Michael Chiesa main event at last night’s (Sun., June 25, 2017) UFC Fight Night 112 from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and it’s hard to argue they don’t have a legitimate gripe in the […]

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The mixed martial arts world is collectively in a minor upheaval today over Mario Yamasaki’s puzzling, controversial decision to call off the Kevin Lee vs. Michael Chiesa main event at last night’s (Sun., June 25, 2017) UFC Fight Night 112 from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and it’s hard to argue they don’t have a legitimate gripe in the very least.

The headlining fight was playing out at a furious pace in the one round it lasted, with No. 11-ranked Lee using seamless grappling transitions and positional advantages to dominate No. 6-ranked Chiesa in his perceived area of strength. The controversy came when Lee locked up a tight rear-naked choke that Chiesa got out of only to see Lee switch his grip and sink in another variant of the often-used maneuver.

It appeared Chiesa was in big trouble with around 30 seconds remaining this time, and may have been only seconds until he did indeed pass out from the hold. But Yamasaki stepped in to call off the bout despite Chiesa never tapping out. He also wasn’t passed out, as “Maverick” immediately got up to his feet coherently to argue the finish. He spoke forcefully out against Yamasaki’s decision in a post-fight interview, and was soon joined by a longtime Yamasaki detractor in UFC President White, who tore into the official on Instagram:

White brutalized Yamasaki not only by calling him “Mario Mazzagatti” in reference to fellow blasted MMA ref Steve Mazzagatti, but also copying Chiesa by saying Yamasaki was more conerned with making his heart symbol for the cameras than actually refereeing the fight:

“Mario Mazzagatti does it again!!! This guy is more concerned with doing this dumb ass heart bullshit then Ref’n the fight!!! Steals a great moment from Lee or let Mike fight it or tap. Nobody gives a shit that u can make a heart with ur hands like a 12 year old girl they want u to pay attention to what’s going on in the fight and do ur job.”

White has come under vast criticism for his perceived bullying of UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and his overall tendency to say one thing before the opposite proves true, but in this instance, he may actually have a point from a source of truth despite the brutal and perhaps even somewhat childish fashion in which he criticized Yamasaki.

The longtime referee has been nothing less than extremely all over the place in his decisions when to stop a fight, as he allows contests like Derrick Lewis vs. Travis Browne to continue when one fighter is clearly knocked out and unable to defend, but then calls off a main event bout when a fighter is in trouble but not out.

And a certain lost aspect of this unfortunate result is that the surging Lee’s best performance will be sullied by controversy. Chiesa could have got out, yes, but it looked like it was more likely that Lee was about to secure his biggest-ever victory over a top 10-ranked lightweight in dominant fashion. Yamasaki should have let it play out how it was going to, regardless of result. Caring about one fighter’s health too much, if that is what happened, makes little sense when you allow another to east an insane amount of unnecessary punishment.

Lee’s win is now clouded, and Chiesa is justifiably calling out for a rematch. Based on White’s hardline stance on well, almost everything, however, Chiesa may just have to aceept White agreeing with him and get back to training camp for his next match.

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Action-Packed MMA Weekend Left Much to Be Figured Out (Editorial)

Chael Sonnen, Kevin Lee, Matt Mitrione and Brent Primus were all big winners over the weekend, but what stood out? In all honestly, it was a big letdown for many fighters because of circumstances beyond their control. Sonnen out-wrestled Wanderlei Silva, but the bout brought a less-than-impressive conclusion to their rivalry. Lee scored a first […]

Chael Sonnen, Kevin Lee, Matt Mitrione and Brent Primus were all big winners over the weekend, but what stood out? In all honestly, it was a big letdown for many fighters because of circumstances beyond their control. Sonnen out-wrestled Wanderlei Silva, but the bout brought a less-than-impressive conclusion to their rivalry. Lee scored a first […]

Tony Ferguson & Kevin Lee Trade Barbs on Post-Fight Show

It didn’t take long for Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee to engage in a verbal spat. Last night (June 25), Lee defeated Michael Chiesa by way of a controversial submission. “The Motown Phenom” was awarded a $50,000 bonus for the rear-naked choke finish. The controversy lies in the fact that Chiesa didn’t tap or pass […]

It didn’t take long for Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee to engage in a verbal spat. Last night (June 25), Lee defeated Michael Chiesa by way of a controversial submission. “The Motown Phenom” was awarded a $50,000 bonus for the rear-naked choke finish. The controversy lies in the fact that Chiesa didn’t tap or pass […]

Michael Chiesa Absolutely Goes Off On Mario Yamasaki

Instead of a fitting conclusion to a rivalry that had gained a ton of traction in recent weeks, MMA fans and the fighters involved were left with a highly anticlimactic feeling when rising lightweight contender Kevin Lee submitted Michael Chiesa with a controversial choke in the main event of last night’s (Sun., June 25, 2017) UFC […]

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Instead of a fitting conclusion to a rivalry that had gained a ton of traction in recent weeks, MMA fans and the fighters involved were left with a highly anticlimactic feeling when rising lightweight contender Kevin Lee submitted Michael Chiesa with a controversial choke in the main event of last night’s (Sun., June 25, 2017) UFC Fight Night 112 from the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

While it was clear that Lee was using superior footwork, speed, athleticism, and to the surprise of many, grappling to dominate Chiesa throughout the majority of the one-round bout, referee Mario Yamasaki muddied the result and called off the fight without Chiesa tapping out or passing out. His only defense could have been he saw Chiesa passing out so he went to save him from more damage, but even might be a flimsy one.

Either way, Chiesa was understandably frustrated with and will appeal the call finishing his main event fight, and he channeled his energy when he went off on the decision after the debated match-up. “Maverick” told FOX Sports that the call was incredibly questionable because women’s strawweight Justine Kish was locked in a tight rear-naked choke from Felice Herrig just a few fights earlier on the main card and was allowed to escape:

“It’s unbalanced officiating when two fights before that, we seen, who was it, Justine Kish just gettin’ her head squeezed off, and they didn’t do anything about it. Like, how are you gonna let that slide, but we go into the main event slot, a heated rival, hyped fight, and you let it crumble like this.”

Photo by: Sean Pokorny for USA TODAY Sports

While any appeal is unlikely to result in the loss being overturned, Chiesa then let loose with his true feelings about Yamasaki, an incredibly controversial referee who has gained what can now legitimately be called an grossly inconsistent decision-making process in terms of when he does and doesn’t call fights off. Chiesa said Yamasaki should never referee another MMA fight again:

“I mean Mario Yamasaki should just crawl into a hole and never step inside of any type of professional mixed martial arts events, he should never officiate ever again. He should spend more time going over the rules than making his stupid little heart symbols to the cameras.”

It’s a brutal assessment to be sure, yet it’s not exactly all that far off-base from what many have been saying about Yamasaki for some time now, even if Chiesa is biased and obviously speaking from a place of elevated emotion in the minutes after the jaw-droppingly silly call.

So Lee agreed to give Chiesa a rematch in his post-fight interview, but warned his rival that the result would just be more of the same. “Maverick” isn’t buying it, of course, and wants to rematch The Motown Phenom” in his home of Detroit this December. 155-pound champion Conor McGregor is off training for his boxing mega bout with Floyd Mayweather on August 26, so the top level of the stacked UFC lightweight class is in a sort of holding pattern right now anyway.

Is a rematch the right fight to make, or should the UFC move on to a bigger and better match-up for Lee, such as an incredibly promising match with Edson Barboza?

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Michael Chiesa Says Ref Should Quit After Controversial Loss to Kevin Lee

There was controversy during Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 112 in Oklahoma City, and Michael Chiesa was not pleased with the officiating.
He “should just crawl in a hole” and “never referee again” Chiesa said of official Mario Yamasaki, per Mike Bohn of USA…

There was controversy during Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 112 in Oklahoma City, and Michael Chiesa was not pleased with the officiating.

He “should just crawl in a hole” and “never referee again” Chiesa said of official Mario Yamasaki, per Mike Bohn of USA Today.

The comments came after Kevin Lee submitted Chiesa with a rear-naked choke late in the first round, although Chiesa never tapped out or went to sleep, per Lucas Rezende of Bloody Elbow. Yamasaki still stopped the fight, causing Chiesa‘s outrage.

UFC fighters Michael Johnson, Chris Camozzi and Aljamain Sterling did not agree with Yamasaki‘s decision to stop the fight, either:

To be fair to Lee, he was in control throughout the first round and appeared well on his way to victory if things followed suit. While the controversial ending will be remembered, he was the better and more physical fighter before being declared the winner.

“It was coming anyway,” Lee said of his victory, per Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting. “I didn’t feel the tap. I never do. I just did what Mario told me.”

Raimondi explained “this is the latest in a string of controversial endings involving Yamasaki, most of which are late stoppages.” Raimondi pointed out UFC president Dana White even “blasted” the official for what he saw as a late stoppage last year.

For his part, Chiesa challenged Lee to a rematch after the loss, so UFC fans may get the opportunity to see this fight again—likely with different officiating.

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