Mario Yamasaki Discusses Return to Refereeing, Past Mistakes, NHB Days

After taking some time away from in-cage activity, referee Mario Yamasaki is ready to get back down to business.

The longtime referee will be returning to the sport to officiate the Professional Fighters League Finals on Nov. 24 in Washington, D.C. The 59-year-old born in Sao Paulo currently resides several miles outside of the U.S. Capitol, where he and his brother operate Yamasaki Academy. Its main stable located in Rockville, Maryland, he splits time between the U.S. and Brazil. Yamasaki spoke to Sherdog about his past career as well as his comeback.

“I’ll be with my brother Fernando and Jerin [Valel], who is coming from Canada,” Yamasaki explained about his upcoming event coverage. “The rules are basically the same except for the elbows which are not allowed in PFL. Very anxious to ref some of those six finals. The promotion here in Washington is huge after all, the show will pay six million dollars for six finalists that night.”

Yamasaki revealed that after being dismissed from refereeing shows for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, he has not crossed paths with its head, UFC President and CEO Dana White. In 2018, White famously tore into Yamasaki for his handling of the one-sided Valentina Shevchenko-Priscila Cachoeira matchup at UFC Fight Night 125. This would be the last UFC event in which Yamasaki officiated, but it would not be the last he attended. At UFC Sao Paulo on Nov. 4, the referee met up with some old friends.

“I called up [UFC announcer] Bruce [Buffer],” Yamasaki stated. “He got a couple of tickets for me and I went to see the show. It was amazing to meet the Brazilian fans and my UFC friends I [made] in 20 years working for the show. It’s just like a family. The following day, [Marc] Goddard, me and many other UFC friends went to lunch together.”

Yamasaki is eager to don the uniform again, and he holds no ill will towards the promotion or its head that maligned him so harshly. If asked, he would be willing to serve as the third man in the Octagon again, but with a caveat regarding his schedule.

“Yes, I would, but I would never accept the same rhythm I used to have,” the Brazilian admitted. “What Herb [Dean] does today doesn’t fit to me anymore. You cannot have family or private life if you ref all weeks. But when UFC comes close to Washington, it would be a pleasure.”

Even co-running his gym, with hundreds of active students training at the primary location in Rockville, the referee-slash-coach actually aims his main focus on his construction company.

“I love what I do, and it’s funny that I already got big clients as a general contractor because of UFC,” the veteran referee remarked. “Frequently they recognize me and I have to bring UFC cartoons. My brother takes care of our gym but I come here and put the gi on every day.”

Yamasaki revealed that this time away from the MMA made him think back to his mistakes, and found that most of them stemmed from the same cause.

“This time off made me reflect about some mistakes I committed and most of them were basically for thinking as a fighter, not as a referee. When you are a fighter, you know how much they trained to be there and have the right to try to recover. Today, I changed my mind, and I think more as a referee. [On] the other hand, imagine if when [Travis] Browne was hit by [Alistair] Overeem’s knee, I stopped the fight like most people thought I should... I gave the chance for Browne to recover and he ended up knocking out Overeem in the sequence,” Yamasaki pontificated.

“Unfortunately, most people don’t remember your rights, but your mistakes are marked forever, like when I stopped correctly [Michael] Chiesa’s choke and was canceled by [the] MMA community,” he remembered. “Anyone who ever grappled in their life could recognize Chiesa was out from Kevin Lee’s rear-naked choke. It’s not necessary to be a BJJ black belt to know there is no way to defend an RNC with [your] hands down. [Where I was unlucky was] that I stopped [it] and he woke up, throwing the crowd against me. Exactly the opposite of what [Jiri] Prochazka did against Goddard. By the way, congratulations to Jiri and Goddard, who did a perfect call that night. But the fact is, if he was not supported by Prochazka, believe me, he would be in [for] a bad week.”

With UFC reaching its 30-year anniversary, and Yamasaki a large part of that history, he has plenty of memories to look back on fondly or otherwise. Even with the major stakes on the line for some of those bouts, including the titles, the dramatic figures and all that comes with handling UFC events, he does not view that time of his life as his most stressful.

“Even being the referee since [no holds barred] times, the [UFC] always gave a great support structure and I always had the judges deciding the winners. That was not the case when I was referee in the first editions of [the] Pan American and World Jiu-Jitsu Championships in [the] Tijuca Tennis Club back in the ‘90s. Some fights were very even, and you have to decide the gold and silver, having on one side [loud cheering section] led by Carlson Gracie [and] on the other another [loud] cheering [section] led by Ryan Gracie. Man, that was totally nuts. Definitely refereeing any UFC fight was much easier than jiu-jitsu [in the] ‘90s. Of course, jiu-jitsu totally changed now,” Yamasaki wistfully reflected.