Mario Yamasaki still stands behind his desicion on UFC Fight Night 112. Kevin Lee locked MIchael Chiesa in a Rear Naked Choke and Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight before Chiesa tapped. Chiesa appealed to Oklahoma State Athletic Comission to to overturn the loss to a no-contest but they denied it.
Yamasaki told to MMAfighting.com: “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.”
As Michael Chiesa was very upset with Yamasaki’s desicion he challenged him to a grappling match during the upcoming Onnit Invitational on Sept. 30.
“Chiesa told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “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.”
Yamasaki, questioning Chiesa’s intentions with challenge responded:
“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.”
