Michael Chiesa var inte nådig i sin kritik mot domare Mario Yamasaki efter helgens kontroversiella förlust mot Kevin Lee på UFC Fight Night 112.
Huvudmatchen stoppades av Yamasaki med bara sekunder kvar av den första ronden efter att Chiesa fastnat i en rear-naked-choke – trots att Chiesa aldrig klappade. Direkt efter stoppet hoppade Chiesa upp och protesterade Yamasakis beslut, och efter matchen talar han ut om situationen:
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”Go back and watch Lee’s fight with Al Iaquinta. He straps in palm-to-palm and really squeezes, and that choke requires a lot of arm pump, a lot of arm strength. So once he switched with palm-to-palm, I just went into this, flexed my neck, get my arms in, get my palms up, and once I feel him start to loosen up, I buckle my elbow down. I mean, I might not be ranked by a belt instructor (in jiu-jitsu), but I am a black belt level MMA fighter. I don’t lose by rear-naked choke. You’ve seen me get in this position time and time again. I was doing totally fine,” menar Chiesa.
“And I think that it’s very unbalanced officiating when two fights before that, we see Justine Kish just get her head squeezed off and they didn’t do anything about it. Like, how are you going to let that slide, but you into the main event slot, a heated rivalry, hyped fight, and you let it crumble like this? I mean, Mario Yamasaki should just crawl in a hole and never step inside of any type of professional mixed martial arts event. He should never officiate ever again. He should spend more time going over the rules than making stupid little heart symbols to the cameras.”
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Tänker överklaga förlusten
Chiesa fick i och med söndagens förlust sin svit på tre raka segrar mot Mitch Clarke, Jim Miller och Beneil Dariush bruten. En upprörd Chiesa vill nu ha en rematch så snart som möjligt, då han menar helgens möte inte kan betraktas som en riktig seger för Lee. Dessutom berättar att han tänker överklaga förlusten till Oklahomas atletiska kommission.
“The second I saw him coming in to break it up, I instantly knew. I mean, the guy has a reputation for poor officiating. I’m not disappointed in myself for how I reacted, like a poor sport. But not only did you rob me of an opportunity, you robbed the fans of a great main event, you robbed Kevin. Kevin got a win over me and there’s not many people in the world that have done that, but now it’s really not a win. It’s just surrounded in controversy. Everybody knows.
“Dude, I’ve fought the best black belts in my division. Jim Miller, Joe Lauzon, Beneil Dariush; all these guys have taken my back in the first round. I always get out and I always win. You robbed me. So I think it’s only right that me and my team, we go back, we go to the commission, we do what we can to get this overturned, and I’m going to look to get a rematch. I’ll fight in Detroit, I’ll fight in December. I’ll fight him right now. We’re running it back, there’s no way we’re not. I’m not going to have this opportunity robbed from me like this.”
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