Longtime followers of the game will bear in mind MMA referee Mario Yamasaki, who had a well-deserved fame as somebody who had a behavior of letting fights go too lengthy. Even now you may nonetheless encounter Yamasaki Mortal Kombat memes, almost 5 years after UFC president Dana White very publicly declared Yamasaki would by no means ref within the UFC once more.
“I feel he’s disgusting, and I by no means wish to see him reffing ever once more,” White declared on an episode of UFC Tonight in 2018 after Mario let Valentina Shevchenko rain down over 200 unanswered punches on Priscila Cachoeira in a particularly ugly battle. “He makes me sick. That man has no enterprise reffing fights. And I promise you, you’re by no means going to see him [in the UFC] once more.”
In a brand new prolonged interview with Talkin’ MMA, Yamasaki defended himself from notion that he’s horrible, arguing that he’s being judged on his worst performances alone.
“Let’s say I referee 800 fights, and I f—ed up in 4. The one factor that exhibits in my historical past are the 4 f— ups that I did, as a result of these are those they preserve pushing, pushing, pushing,” Yamasaki stated. “Typically it’s not related however that’s there. , what Dana stated about me, ‘Oh, he’ll by no means step foot within the Octagon once more, blah, blah, blah.’ These are the issues that present most, not my 798 fights that I did proper. They don’t care. They care solely what you probably did mistaken.”
“That’s why we are saying in Brazil, ‘casca grosso,’ thick pores and skin. You gotta construct that, as a result of when you don’t try this, you’re not imagined to be in there.”
In fact, we all know that Yamasaki’s efficiency was barely worse than the 798 out of 800 he claimed. He had a nicely earned fame for non-stoppages courting again over a decade. By the point White banned him from the UFC he was making headlines a number of instances a yr after harmful incidents.
Regardless of the extraordinarily damaging exit, Mario nonetheless has fond reminiscences of his time with the UFC and a friendship he had with White earlier than issues received too company.
“With out [the UFC] I’d have by no means visited the cities and states or nations that I did,” he stated. “They all the time handled me top notch, you already know, the motels, the whole lot was nice. It’s a cycle. I’ve been there for 20 years and it’s one thing that I cherished. It gave me pleasure, it gave me happiness, it gave me ‘fame’ and cash. I can’t complain. They misplaced, not me. As a result of I’ll proceed and [Dana White] is simply media speak.”
“We had a relationship to start with when it was small, once they simply purchased it,” he continued. “I used to be there earlier than Dana White. When he purchased it he was very nice, we went out on a regular basis, talked, we had an in depth relationship, an open relationship like I may name him any time.”
“When it grew to become an organization, he began to place folks beneath him. And persons are jealous they usually begin blocking you. So lots of people beginning blocking us, ‘Oh you may’t speak to Dana now, you need to speak to me. You possibly can’t do that, you need to do that.’ After which he grew to become actually chilly, particularly after they offered the final time [to Endeavor], is even colder. It’s only a enterprise now.”
“The golden days for us, for referees — all of the events, all of the stuff that we did was nice. Now you go there, you’re employed like a wage man, increase, depart. You possibly can’t say something, you may’t speak an excessive amount of. It’s totally different. It’s a distinct story now.”
Yamasaki admitted he felt like he was handled unfairly in the long run.
“I feel Dana was slightly too harsh on me, as a result of I’m not that dangerous,” he stated. “20 years there, and he all the time got here to me, we’d speak rather a lot, and for him to only be a media man, and simply destroy a man, ‘Oh he’s not going to step [foot] in right here any extra.’ I wasn’t that dangerous.”
As for who he thinks is the most effective, Yamasaki had some favorites however believes many of the refs in common rotation with the UFC are doing an important job as of late.
“Herb Dean is among the greatest,” he stated. “What’s the title of the man from the UK? Marc Goddard is nice. [Jeff] Herzog is nice too. A bunch of them now could be good, as a result of once you’re constant and also you’re working rather a lot, it turns into a part of your day by day, so all of the referees which are on the UFC on a regular basis now, they’re fairly good, they’re nice.”
“Everyone’s going to make a mistake. Herb made a mistake, [Big] John made a mistake, I made a mistake. It’s life. However what occurs in life, particularly now with the media and the web going very quick, you get your haters.”
