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#5 News: Mario Yamasaki finally opens up on near-fatal UFC Belem bout
Veteran referee Mario Yamasaki has been on the receiving end of a tidal wave of criticism after his dangerously late stoppage of the recent Valentina Shevchenko vs. Priscilla Cachoeira fight. Yamasaki issued a statement to MMAfighting on the same—a few excerpts of which have been noted below—
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“Fighters go through times of hard effort and dedication to be there. MMA is a contact sport and no fighter likes his fight to be stopped with no chance to revert the result. In my opinion, I allowed Pedrita to be a warrior and keep fighting. I could have stopped the fight in the second crucifix or in the mount, but she moved the whole time.”
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Furthermore, Yamasaki reiterated that whenever he’d go in to stop the fight, Cachoeira would move and defend herself. Besides, he did accept the fact that he could’ve stopped the bout a few seconds earlier, given that Shevchenko had successfully made her foe tap out to the final Rear Naked Choke attempt of the matchup.
