Yet another blunder from the supposedly professional referee…
It was a rough night for many involved in the UFC’s visit to Oklahoma. On the main card we saw perhaps the grossest fight in MMA history, albeit not the fault of the fighters or the promotion.
Justine Kish literally had the poop squeezed out of her by Felice Herrig. Possibly the most controversial moment of the night came in the main event, though. Hoping to settle their bitter rivalry, Kevin Lee and Michael Chiesa fought in a lightweight affair.
Having shared a super intense feud, Chiesa and Lee were unsurprisingly fired up. Then this happened:
Was it a legit finish? Kevin Lee with a submission on Michael Chiesa that we’ll be talking about for awhile! #UFCOKC https://t.co/mOFBUonnem
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) June 26, 2017
Although Lee had the rear naked choke hold locked in, Chiesa had already escaped it once. Without tapping and just a second in to the choke being tight, referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight.
Chiesa and UFC president Dana White were furious, read their reactions below:
Dana White Not Happy
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.
Chiesa told FOX Sports, h/t LowKickMMA, that Mario should never ref another UFC bout:
Chiesa Goes Ham
“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.”
“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.”
In case you were wondering, Yamasaki earned the nickname ‘if he dies, he dies’ for the brutally late stoppage of Travis Browne by Derrick Lewis.
UFC Fight Night 112 Results List
Kevin Lee def. Michael Chiesa via submission (RNC) (1st, 4:37)
Tim Boetsch def. Johny Hendricks via second-round TKO (0:46)
Felice Herrig def. Justine Kish via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27)
Dominick Reyes def. Joachim Christensen via first-round TKO (0:29)
Tim Means def. Alex Garcia via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Dennis Siver def. B.J. Penn via majority decision (28-28, 29-28, 29-27)
Clay Guida vs. Erik Koch – Guida UD 29-28, 29-26, 30-27.
Vitor Miranda vs. Marvin Vettori – Vettori UD 29-28, 30-27 X2.
Carla Esparza vs. Maryna Moroz – Esparza UD 30-27, 29-28 X2.
Devin Powell vs. Darrell Horcher – Horcher SD 29-28, 28-29, 29-28.
Jared Gordon vs. Michel Quinones – Gordon TKO 4:24 R2.
Jeremy Kimball vs. Josh Stansbury – Kimball TKO 1:21 R1.
Johnny Case vs. Tony Martin – Martin UD 29-28 X3.
