OSAC denies Chiesa appeal

In the main event of UFC Fight Night 112, Michael Chiesa was in a sunk Kevin Lee rear naked choke and appeared on the verge of going out when referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight with 23 seconds to go.

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Chiesa then appealed his submission loss with the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission executive director Joe Miller. Chiesa said he never submitted, never went out, and was always intelligently defending himself.

Chiesa’s arms appeared to go limp to a significant degree immediately before the stoppage, but he attributed the “relaxing” to engaging his core and shoulders to shrug in order to reduce pressure. Chiesa also protested what he described as illegal 12-6 elbows, which resulted in a cut that later required stitches.

However, Chiesa’s appeal was denied by the commission, which determined there “wasn’t enough evidence to overturn referee Yamasaki’s decision. In a letter to Chiesa, Miller said the bout was reviewed in slow motion, and that statements from both Chiesa and Mario Yamasaki were considered prior to the commission coming to a consensus.

In the referee’s opinion, just prior to the stoppage, your hands stopped defending the choke, were in mid-air, wobbly and limp, and were moving toward your waist, wrote Miller. This is confirmed by watching the tape in super slow motion.

The referee had no way to know that you were actually relaxing, engaging your core and shoulders to shrug or release the pressure and flex your neck muscles. At that point, he was in perfect position and acted to what he was seeing.

Miller did agree that there had been illegal elbows, discussed the error with Yamasaki, and noted that they did not affect the bout outcome.

In most jurisdictions, the regulating commission will only overturn in three distinct cases. One is a math error, where for example the scores were totaled incorrectly. Another is an official being bribed, or otherwise influenced illegally to render the incorrect decision. And a third is an official not knowing the rules, for example giving an MMA fighter a 10-count and letting the fight continue.

Simply making a mistake does not meet the standard.

If Mario Yamasaki didn’t know that you don’t stop a fight when he or she doesn’t go out (barring a tap) then there would be grounds for an appeal. If Yamasaki was bribed there would be grounds for an appeal. But Mario Yamasaki is one of the top referees in the sport, and he knows the rules. So the appeal was frivolous or filed without an understanding of the rules.