After taking some time away from in-cage activity, referee Mario
Yamasaki is ready to get back down to business.
The longtime referee will be returning to the sport to officiate
the Professional Fighters League Finals on Nov. 24
in Washington, D.C. The 59-year-old born in Sao Paulo currently
resides several miles outside of the U.S. Capitol, where he and his
brother operate Yamasaki Academy. Its main stable located in
Rockville, Maryland, he splits time between the U.S. and Brazil.
Yamasaki spoke to Sherdog about his past career as well as his
comeback.
“I’ll be with my brother Fernando and Jerin [Valel], who is coming
from Canada,” Yamasaki explained about his upcoming event coverage.
“The rules are basically the same except for the elbows which are
not allowed in PFL. Very anxious to ref some of those six finals.
The promotion here in Washington is huge after all, the show will
pay six million dollars for six finalists that night.”
Yamasaki revealed that after being dismissed from refereeing shows
for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, he has not
crossed paths with its head, UFC President and CEO Dana White. In
2018, White
famously tore into Yamasaki for his handling of the one-sided
Valentina
Shevchenko–Priscila
Cachoeira matchup at UFC Fight Night 125. This would be the
last UFC event in which Yamasaki officiated, but it would not be
the last he attended. At UFC Sao Paulo on Nov. 4, the referee met
up with some old friends.
“I called up [UFC announcer] Bruce [Buffer],” Yamasaki stated. “He
got a couple of tickets for me and I went to see the show. It was
amazing to meet the Brazilian fans and my UFC friends I [made] in
20 years working for the show. It’s just like a family. The
following day, [Marc] Goddard, me and many other UFC friends went
to lunch together.”
Yamasaki is eager to don the uniform again, and he holds no ill
will towards the promotion or its head that maligned him so
harshly. If asked, he would be willing to serve as the third man in
the Octagon again, but with a caveat regarding his schedule.
“Yes, I would, but I would never accept the same rhythm I used to
have,” the Brazilian admitted. “What Herb [Dean] does today doesn’t
fit to me anymore. You cannot have family or private life if you
ref all weeks. But when UFC comes close to Washington, it would be
a pleasure.”
Even co-running his gym, with hundreds of active students training
at the primary location in Rockville, the referee-slash-coach
actually aims his main focus on his construction company.
“I love what I do, and it’s funny that I already got big clients as
a general contractor because of UFC,” the veteran referee remarked.
“Frequently they recognize me and I have to bring UFC cartoons. My
brother takes care of our gym but I come here and put the gi on
every day.”
Yamasaki revealed that this time away from the MMA made him think
back to his mistakes, and found that most of them stemmed from the
same cause.
“This time off made me reflect about some mistakes I committed and
most of them were basically for thinking as a fighter, not as a
referee. When you are a fighter, you know how much they trained to
be there and have the right to try to recover. Today, I changed my
mind, and I think more as a referee. [On] the other hand, imagine
if when [Travis]
Browne was hit by [Alistair]
Overeem’s knee, I stopped the fight like most people thought I
should… I gave the chance for Browne to recover and he ended up
knocking out Overeem in the sequence,” Yamasaki pontificated.
“Unfortunately, most people don’t remember your rights, but your
mistakes are marked forever, like when I stopped correctly [Michael]
Chiesa’s choke and was canceled by [the] MMA community,” he
remembered. “Anyone who ever grappled in their life could recognize
Chiesa was out from Kevin Lee’s
rear-naked choke. It’s not necessary to be a BJJ black belt to know
there is no way to defend an RNC with [your] hands down. [Where I
was unlucky was] that I stopped [it] and he woke up, throwing the
crowd against me. Exactly the opposite of what [Jiri]
Prochazka did against Goddard. By the way, congratulations to
Jiri and Goddard, who did a perfect call that night. But the fact
is, if he was not supported by Prochazka, believe me, he would be
in [for] a bad week.”
With UFC reaching its 30-year anniversary, and Yamasaki a large
part of that history, he has plenty of memories to look back on
fondly or otherwise. Even with the major stakes on the line for
some of those bouts, including the titles, the dramatic figures and
all that comes with handling UFC events, he does not view that time
of his life as his most stressful.
“Even being the referee since [no holds barred] times, the [UFC]
always gave a great support structure and I always had the judges
deciding the winners. That was not the case when I was referee in
the first editions of [the] Pan American and World Jiu-Jitsu
Championships in [the] Tijuca Tennis Club back in the ‘90s. Some
fights were very even, and you have to decide the gold and silver,
having on one side [loud cheering section] led by Carlson Gracie
[and] on the other another [loud] cheering [section] led by
Ryan
Gracie. Man, that was totally nuts. Definitely refereeing any
UFC fight was much easier than jiu-jitsu [in the] ‘90s. Of course,
jiu-jitsu totally changed now,” Yamasaki wistfully reflected.