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#5 News: Mario Yamasaki finally opens up on near-fatal UFC Belem bout
Veteran referee Mario Yamasaki has been on the receiving end of a tidal wave of criticism after his dangerously late stoppage of the recent Valentina Shevchenko vs. Priscilla Cachoeira fight. Yamasaki issued a statement to MMAfighting on the same—a few excerpts of which have been noted below—
“Fighters go through times of hard effort and dedication to be there. MMA is a contact sport and no fighter likes his fight to be stopped with no chance to revert the result. In my opinion, I allowed Pedrita to be a warrior and keep fighting. I could have stopped the fight in the second crucifix or in the mount, but she moved the whole time.”
Furthermore, Yamasaki reiterated that whenever he’d go in to stop the fight, Cachoeira would move and defend herself. Besides, he did accept the fact that he could’ve stopped the bout a few seconds earlier, given that Shevchenko had successfully made her foe tap out to the final Rear Naked Choke attempt of the matchup.
