Yamasaki defends controversial Jacare stoppage
Mario Yamasaki: “Watching on the TV, it might give you the impression that I could have let it go a little longer, but you can’t see his eyes.”
Twitter reacted during UFC on FOX 24 when referee Mario Yamasaki appeared to let Jacare Souza fight on a little long vs Robert Whittaker, and then stop it when it Jacare appeared to begin an intelligent defense.
https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/status/853413801575710720https://twitter.com/bokamotoESPN/status/853413614081921024https://twitter.com/JedKMeshew/status/853379831760867329https://twitter.com/yay_yee/status/853413970887168001https://twitter.com/MMARising/status/853413578698768385https://twitter.com/guicruzzz/status/853413671145439232
However, the statements above are some of them a little contradictory. If the fight shouldn’t have been stopped when Jacare appeared to be defending himself, then Yamasaki was right to give the fighter time to defend himself. And if the referee then stopped the fight, it is reasonable to presume it is because he saw something not apparent to asses in seats.
Guilherme Cruz caught up with Yamasaki after the fight and asked him about it for MMA Fighting.
“I re-watched the fight, but I know what I did there, I know what was going on, said Yamasaki. “I was the one in there. Watching on TV, people have a different image than the one I’m seeing in there, and I have to follow the rules. The rules say I have to protect the athlete, and when the fighter is not intelligently defending himself anymore, he’s on autopilot, it will only cause more damage.”
“I don’t know if you saw it, but ‘Jacare’ went out on the ground, was punched and came back, and ate three more strong elbows. And I decided it was better to stop the fight because, in my opinion, Whittaker would only let him come back up to knock him down again and beat him up. To preserve him, who was no longer intelligently defending himself, I decided to stop the fight.
“I talk to a lot of people about Gary Goodridge, Eder Jofre and (Adilson) ‘Maguila’, who suffer from dementia pugilistica, that people don’t know how dangerous is to get unnecessary punches. I’m following my ethic, and also the athletic commission. Everyone from the athletic commission praised me, but fans didn’t like it. They say I don’t like Brazilians, blah blah blah. I’m the referee, I have to follow the rules.”
“Watching on the TV, it might give you the impression that I could have let it go a little longer, but you can’t see his eyes. The TV doesn’t show that. He was hurt. He would only eat more punches, and it was my decision to make sure he was safe since he couldn’t defend himself anymore. Let him go back up to get punched three times and go out, why would that do him any good?
