With almost everyone else injured or tied up, Dustin Poirier has his sights set on former UFC lightweight champ Pettis or Michael Chiesa Poirier spoke with BJPenn.com about his immediate future, while being realistic about his options: “You know I was hoping for a top-five opponent,” he explained. “But if I can’t get that, then […]
With almost everyone else injured or tied up, Dustin Poirier has his sights set on former UFC lightweight champ Pettis or Michael Chiesa Poirier spoke with BJPenn.com about his immediate future, while being realistic about his options: “You know I was hoping for a top-five opponent,” he explained. “But if I can’t get that, then […]
Lightweight Michael Chiesa may have lost the appeal of his submission loss to Kevin Lee in the main event of June 25’s UFC Fight Night 12, but “Maverick” clearly isn’t going to let it go – at least for now. So much so that Chiesa appeared on yesterday’s edition of “The MMA Hour” with Ariel […]
Lightweight Michael Chiesa may have lost the appeal of his submission loss to Kevin Lee in the main event of June 25’s UFC Fight Night 12, but “Maverick” clearly isn’t going to let it go – at least for now.
So much so that Chiesa appeared on yesterday’s edition of “The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani to challenge Mario Yamasaki, the referee who made what many feel was an early call-off of the bout, to a grappling challenge at the Onnit Invitational on September 30 to prove his skills on the mat:
“I would like to test his fifth degree black belt in a friendly grappling match and let’s see if he’s what he says he is. And I’m not saying it in a hostile way, I’m saying, ‘hey, if you’re a fifth degree black belt, you should back up for the decisions you made.’ As a martial artist myself, that’s my open challenge to him, to headline Onnit Invitational on Sept. 30.”
The longtime referee was then contacted by MMA Fighting for a response, and said there was simply no other way to call the fight without allowing Chiesa to go out further:
“I saw the moment he went out. He can complain, but there’s no other way. The athletic commission already reviewed it, there’s nothing more to say. … (The commission) contacted me, I explained what I saw and he explains what he saw and felt. They watched the fight in slow motion and didn’t find anything wrong.
“It would have been a lot easier to let him go out longer, but my job is to defend his integrity when he’s no longer doing it for himself.”
Sean Pokorny-USA TODAY Sports
That’s always going to be for debate, but the most disappointing thing about the situation was that it muddied a signature win for Lee because of a referee’s decision, and that of a referee who has been under heated criticism for the extreme degree of inconsistency he has displayed in stopping high-profile bouts lately.
Thats lead Chiesa – and many others – to call for Yamasaki to stop refereeing top-level MMA bouts, yet for some reason, he still keeps getting the very best high-profile fights. Hopefully he can defend the fighters’ safety on a consistent basis, but as far as the challenge from Chiesa, Yamasaki believes “Maverick” made a silly callout and is just looking for more facetime in the media.
With that said, however, Yamasaki did say he was willing to face Chiesa at one of his 10 academies if given some time to train:
“I’m 53 years old, I don’t train anymore, how am I going to do this?” Yamasaki said. “And what’s the point of him fighting me? What would that change? What does he want to prove? It’s childish. Even if he catches me or if I catch him, that won’t change anything that happened in his fight. What is he trying to prove?
“If he gives me some time to train, I’d grapple with him,” he added. “Tell him to come to my academy, no problem. I have 10 academies in the United States, he can come any time he wants.
“What is he trying to prove? That’s what I wanna know,” the referee said. “What would that change? He wants media, and he already had media.”
Tonight at UFC Vegas 43, Michael Chiesa will have his hands full with 14-0 Sean Brady. Four years ago, he wanted to compete against referee Mario Yamasaki instead. The following article from four years ago details why. It is presen…
[MMA NEWS ARCHIVES]
Tonight at UFC Vegas 43, Michael Chiesa will have his hands full with 14-0 Sean Brady. Four years ago, he wanted to compete against referee Mario Yamasaki instead. The following article from four years ago details why. It is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of the MMA News Archives.
[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 24, 2017, 7:23 PM]
Michael Chiesa hasn’t gotten over his controversial UFC Fight Night 112 submission loss.
Even though he appeared to be fading in a rear-naked choke applied by Kevin Lee, Chiesa didn’t tap or go limp. Referee Mario Yamasaki saw the hand fighting stop and put an end to the bout.
During a recent appearance on MMAFighting.com’s “The MMA Hour,” Chiesa issued a challenge to Yamasaki:
“Onnit is having an invitational on Sept. 30, so this is my open challenge to Yamasaki. I would like to test his fifth degree black belt in a friendly grappling match and let’s see if he’s what he says he is. And I’m not saying it in a hostile way, I’m saying, ‘hey, if you’re a fifth degree black belt, you should back up for the decisions you made.’ As a martial artist myself, that’s my open challenge to him, to headline Onnit Invitational on Sept. 30.”
He went on to say that Yamasaki may have regressed in his position.
“I know he’s a fifth degree black belt and that’s all fine and dandy, but that doesn’t mean he’s a fifth degree black belt in officiating. I feel like he’s fallen behind a little bit, and I think it’s sad when a referee walks into your room and you and your teammates are looking at each other like, ‘oh shit, we got this guy’. I like the work of Herb Dean, “Big” John, Dan Miragliotta, and I think the best ref in the business is Josh Rosenthal, but unfortunately we can’t have him. It sucks when an official walks into your room and you’re like, ‘crap,’ and it’s just a crappy feeling.”
Michael Chiesa will not have his UFC Fight Night 112 defeat reversed. In the main event of the card, lightweights Cheisa and Kevin Lee did battle inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma last month. Lee locked in a rear-naked choke in the first round and earned a submission victory. Controversy ensued as “The […]
Michael Chiesa will not have his UFC Fight Night 112 defeat reversed. In the main event of the card, lightweights Cheisa and Kevin Lee did battle inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma last month. Lee locked in a rear-naked choke in the first round and earned a submission victory. Controversy ensued as “The […]
No change will be made to the controversial finish that transpired nearly a month ago in the main event of the UFC Oklahoma City main event between Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee. A hearing has been denied to “Maverick” by the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission (OSAC) to appeal his first round submission loss to Lee, via Lee’s […]
No change will be made to the controversial finish that transpired nearly a month ago in the main event of the UFC Oklahoma City main event between Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee.
A hearing has been denied to “Maverick” by the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission (OSAC) to appeal his first round submission loss to Lee, via Lee’s manager Daniel Rubenstein. Referee Mario Yamasaki called the main event action last month (Sun. June 25, 2017) between Lee and Chiesa, as “The Motown Phenom” locked in a deep rear-naked choke towards the end of the round.
Yamasaki waived off the action in favor of Lee, although Chiesa never tapped out or was rendered unconscious. Chiesa went off on Yamasaki following the contest in a backstage interview, and filed an appeal to overturn the result to a No Contest due to what he feels was a bad call by the longtime mixed martial arts (MMA) ref. Following a July 12th meeting, after reviewing the fight tape and statements from both Yamasaki and Chiesa, the commission deemed there was “not enough evidence to overturn the referee’s decision.”
Mandatory Credit: Sean Pokorny for USA TODAY Sports
OSAC executive director Joe Miller had this to say regarding the matter (via MMA Fighting):
“In the referee’s opinion just prior to the stoppage your hands stopped defending the choke, were in mid-air, wobbly and limp, and were moving towards your waist,” Miller said. “This is confirmed by watching the tape in super slow motion.”
As it pertains to Chiesa seeming to go limp while in the choke, “Maverick” claims in his appeal letter that he did those actions on purpose; attempting to relax his body, engage his core, and shrugging as well as flexing neck muscles to increase blood flow and breathing.
Miller’s response to Chiesa’s explanation – there was no way Yamasaki could have know that’s what he was doing:
“At that point he was in perfect position and acted on what he was seeing,” Miller wrote.
Mandatory Credit: Sean Pokorny-USA TODAY Sports
Prior to the choke getting locked in, Chiesa also said he was disappointed Yamasaki did not perform disciplinary action against Lee for illegal 12-to-6 elbows. Miller acknowledged that Lee did, in fact, land illegal 12-to-6 elbows, however, “those strikes did not impact the outcome of the bout and I have addressed this mistake with Mr. Yamasaki.”
We have finally got to hear Mario Yamasaki’s side regarding the early stoppage in the main event of UFC Fight Night 112. If you recall, Michael Chiesa was submitted by Kevin Lee in June at a UFC event in Oklahoma City after Yamasaki stopped the fight due to a rear naked choke. The problem with […]
We have finally got to hear Mario Yamasaki’s side regarding the early stoppage in the main event of UFC Fight Night 112. If you recall, Michael Chiesa was submitted by Kevin Lee in June at a UFC event in Oklahoma City after Yamasaki stopped the fight due to a rear naked choke.
The problem with the stoppage was that Chiesa never tapped out of the fight and was up on his feet following the stoppage. This led to fighters, fans, and even UFC President Dana White going off on the long-time referee as they believed that it was an earlier stoppage as it appeared that Chiesa was still in the process of blacking out.
Yamasaki spoke to Combate about the fight, and in his opinion, there’s no doubt Chiesa was out of the fight.
“It would be easier to just let him be, but I’m a fifth degree jiu-jitsu black belt. I’m sure he went to sleep. Everyone said he didn’t tap, but there’s no tapping when you go to sleep. Otherwise, he would’ve moved his arm. I only have to move an athlete when I’m in doubt, and there was no doubt. I saw a guy who stopped defending himself and going limp.”
“He came back very fast. I was in the moment, there’s nothing I can do. That’s where the confusion and the controversy begin. Dana, as a promoter and an excellent business man, is in his right. He promotes well. I don’t have to say anything. It’s his opinion, he thinks Chiesa didn’t go to sleep. Whoever is in there at the time knows. I don’t need to answer anything. The more I talk about this, the more it’ll grow.”
Although he caught a lot of criticism, Yamakasi wants to be very clear that he can take it. However, he is worried about his kids and other children about the heat that has been sent his way.
“I’m used to it. I’ve been doing this for 20 years. What hurt was my kids, nephews, and nieces who are little, asking why they’re talking about me. People calling you things can get to you in the first or second day, but we’re tough. You just have to deal with it, there’s no way around it.”
