Ariel Helwani declares Mario Yamasaki unfit to be a referee.

[Luke Thomas Rockhold]

Mario is a legit BJJ black belt and a world class instructor.
He trained Murilo Santana & awarded him his black belt.

But Ariel Helwani is fit to decide who is fit to ref. The guy has the nose for it.

 

[John makfresshi]

I declare Ariel unfit to make that call

 

[linvillegorge]

Mario's belt is irrelevant. The guy has a long history of making terrible calls as a referee. That's what is relevant in discussing whether or not he should continue reffing.

 

[tdluxon]

Ariel is a girl name

 

[chinarice]

Mario is a legit BJJ black belt and a world class instructor.
He trained Murilo Santana & awarded him his black belt.

But Ariel Helwani is fit to decide who is fit to ref. The guy has the nose for it.

You mean Ariel does what sherdoggers do? We're definitely more fit to decide.

 

[jagerbomber84]

Let's let Cecil Peoples be the judge of this ...

 

[John Cena]

Mario, Steve and Kate should never ref again

 

[BC]

That’s all good and dandy but what is Ja Rule’s take on this? @deviake

 

[NorwegianWood]

Mariel Helwasacki

 

[Kingz]

 

[BoD 2.0]

I think the UFC matchmaker was unfit to do their job in this case.

 

[deviake]

That’s all good and dandy but what is Ja Rule’s take on this? @deviake

WHERE IS JA? We need to make sense of all this!

 

[Lawblaw]

Arianny is jealous cuz he knows he would have cried and quit

 

[BC]

WHERE IS JA? We need to make sense of all this!

 

[IGotAHugePeckah]

Sorry Ariel but when you chose to take a paycheck from the UFC while you were supposedly unbiased and unaffiliated, you became unfit to be a journalist!

 

[Franc Mittelo]

Mario is a legit BJJ black belt and a world class instructor.
He trained Murilo Santana & awarded him his black belt.

But Ariel Helwani is fit to decide who is fit to ref. The guy has the nose for it.

The referee's job is to protect the fighters, and not to give them the "opportunity to prove that they are warriors." The referee shouldn't coach the fighter during the fight.

Before the fight, the referee should clearly explain the rules to the fighter. Since early stoppages is always a potential issue, the referee should explain to the fighter what is "intelligence defense." For me personally, intelligent defense means that a fighter is applying technique to get him/herself out of a bad situation. If you are in a crucifix and getting repeatedly punched in the face, moving your head from side to side isn't intelligent defense in my opinion, but that is a different conversation.

Be clear with the fighter before the fight. During the fight, it is not your responsibility to coach the fighter. If the fighter is in trouble and is unable to intelligently defend (as agreed upon before the fight), then stop the fight.

All that stuff is recorded and documented. The fans can get mad, but if you do your job as the commission prescribes and you had made it clear to the fighter what the commission considers as reasonable intelligent defense. Then let the fans be triggered and cringed all they want.

 

[giusti825]

Mario is a legit BJJ black belt and a world class instructor.
He trained Murilo Santana & awarded him his black belt.

But Ariel Helwani is fit to decide who is fit to ref. The guy has the nose for it.

Dude. Ariel's not wrong.

Yamasaki's excuse made the situation 10x worse.

No excuse for a ref to let a fighter take tons of unnecessary damage. Its his job to do the opposite.

He should've apologized and acknowledged his mistake.

But he doubled down and tried to make his dereliction in duty sound noble?! Ridiculous.

Either he is incompetent, corrupt or both, but if he HONESTLY believes that fight shouldn't have been stopped sooner, he really does have no business reffing anymore.

This is becoming a trend in reffing that im beginning to despise. But I also despise the corners, just standing there watching their fighter get completely destroyed with no chance of winning, but letting it continue for another 5-10 minutes to show how 'tough' their fighter is.....assholes.....all of 'em....

 

[MescalineDreams]

 

[Defeat Unknown]

Tired of these bullshit band wagons that target referees.

Everyone involved is to blame for that outcome.

We see shitty stoppages all the time and no one says a peep about them.

 

[Gabe]

For an MMA fan Helwani is really a giant pussy.