The Worst UFC Referee: Mario Yamasaki

Mario Yamasaki is one of the most hated UFC referees because over a 13-year span as a UFC referee, he made several horrible mistakes, including not noticing Frank Trigg's clear groin strike over Matt Hughes at UFC 52, pausing the fight between victor valimaki and alessio sakara, Giving Erick Silva a disqualification loss in the UFC over allegedly illegal punches to the back of the head to Carlo Prater, Letting Glover Teixeira dominate and punish Fabio Maldonado for 2 rounds straight, awkwardly stepping in between Cody Garbrandt and Augusto Mendes, not noticing Alex Oliveira's tap to Donald Cowboy Cerrone, letting Derrick Lewis punch and knockout Travis Browne with several unanswered shots, a horrible stoppage between Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee, and letting Valentina Shevchenko punish Priscillla Cachoeira.

Dana White has had many bad things to say about Mario Yamasaki including that he is "disgusting" and "has no business reffing fights" on UFC Tonight on Fox.

Support the channel by becoming a member:

#shorts #ufc #mma #bjj #fighting #mixedmartialarts #mmafighter #mmanews #conormcgregor #connormcgregor #espnmma #khabib #khabibnurmagomedov #grappling #boxing #kickboxing #wrestling #judo #danawhite #joerogan #edsonbarboza #francisngannou #jonjones #danielcormier #tjdillashaw #petyryan #dustinporier #justingaethje #michaelchandler #bellator #mmafighter #michaelbisping #andrewtate #jakepaul #jiujitsu #derricklewis #demetriousjohnson #mightymouse #henrycejudo #dominickcruz #alexandervolkanovski #maxholloway #brianortega #yairrodriguez #colbycovington #kamaruusma #leonedwards #gilbertburns #khamzatchimaev #israeladesanya #roberwhittaker #yoelromero #paulocosta #jaredcannonier #darrentill #paddypimblett #paddythebaddy #gloverteixera

[lionelrivera_MMA]

Support me on Patreon! -- patreon.com/lionelrivera

[kennethg]

He did punch 2-3 times in the back of the head. Yamasaki called that right.. Kevin Lee call was also correct. But we can't oversee his worst calls that easily could have ended up with loss of life. But for most of his 20+ year career he did actually do a good job.

[xxdarkdemonxxx]

Tbh I feel like yamasaki made the right call when it came to the shots to the back of the head. Joe Rogan was incredibly unprofessional just going right up to him and ambushing him with the mic, especially because Yamasaki had not seen the replay and Joe had. It ended up making Yamasaki look incompetent when it was arguably the right call to make.

[NHAssociation]

Mario “I’m getting paid for five rounds” Yamasaki

Mario “protect yourself at all times, including when you’re unconscious” Yamasaki

[aktony-]

Mario "if his hearts still pumping, he can take a thumping" Yamasaki

[JonAnikCustodyBattle]

Mario telling an unconscious Travis Brown to protect himself still is funny to this day

[Danrod]

At least one of the shots on Valimaki WAS to the back of the head. When you slow it down, its more clear that most of them werent, but Mario sees a shot to the back of the head and a lot of shots nearby and makes a call. We can argue whether it was the right call, but its a justifiable call. Man got ambushed by Joe Rogan and shit on by the fans that he was more lenient during fights and got shit on for that too.

[Kzany]

imagine if he was the referee of the Poatan vs izzy fight

[stickman]

Mario was arguably the top ref for a while. Shame that a few bad days have tarnished his 20+ year career.

[JackSon-whpc]

Half of these weren’t that bad. The one where I feel like people overreacted was the triangle choke between the cowboys because when he tapped cerrone instantly pointed to it and he jumped in a second after. Plus in that fight he had just sunk the choke in so he had at least 5 seconds of consciousness before going dark.

[MrJRW]

That Matt Hughes fight where Matt was illegally struck in the groin, was insane! To be able to survive that, and then pick up, run the length of the octagon, slam and submit the opponent is amazing!

[TheDanzomanzo]

That PR nightmare seems to be what ended him. You do NOT referee with a fighter/warrior's ideals, you referee in the ideals of ruling/wellbeing. Whoever told him to say 'allow to be a warrior' has to be the worst PR person out there.

[corneliuscactus]

I'm not a big UFC fan but most of these mistakes seem reasonable. If you stop a fight too early people get mad, if you let them fight a little longer people get mad.

You just can't please everyone.

[AnthonyBoutdavong]

The Kevin Lee one wasn’t bad at all. He stopped defending the choke, arms go stiff. Even if you want to argue that he didn’t tap. He wasn’t defending himself properly and basically accepted the he was gonna go. It’s no different from Aldo just laying there covering up or Adesanya just weaving his head while he’s clearly out of it.

[stanbrule]

"Ref call it I'm literally dying" Mario: makes heart shape with hands

[insertnamehere]

In fairness, its a very tough job, and I wouldn't like to do it. One bad call and it can cost someone their health. No matter how good anyone is at their job they're gonna have off days. So split second decisions are sometimes going to go wrong for anyone. Including Dana

[scottst]

“If the brains are still alive, we’re finishing the five!” - Mario Yamasaki

[BredyVR]

Damn good video! Yamasaki's biggest mistake was talking to the media. It's okay to make mistakes, we're human. If you try to explain yourself, you're in real trouble. There is worse ref's in the UFC!

[jsnell]

Definitely don’t think he deserves the title as the worst referee, he’s human and makes mistakes like the rest of us. Good to see he owns up to his mistakes!

[joshthemediocre]

I also don't mind the Chiesa call..Chiesa looked freaking gone..you have to make a split second decision..why didn't Chiesa close his eyes? that won't help you escape.