Frank Trigg: Ref Mario Yamasaki 'cost me a million dollars,' but did right in Shevchenko fight

Frank Trigg has as good a reason as anyone to further bury referee Mario Yamasaki for his much-maligned performance in this past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 125 co-main event, but he won’t.

Trigg (21-9 MMA, 2-5 UFC), a retired fighter who earned a spot in the UFC Hall of Fame, now serves as a referee, and he’s been a victim of Yamasaki’s poor officiating in the past – specifically, in a UFC welterweight title fight with Matt Hughes at UFC 52 in April 2005.

Yamasaki failed to identify a low blow in a title fight, and it allowed Hughes to take a major advantage and ultimately end the fight by submission. This pas Saturday, Yamasaki allowed Valentina Shevchenko (15-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) to put a prolonged beating on Priscila Cachoeira (8-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) that many agree should have ended far earlier than it did.

Trigg, who has the rare perspective of being a former fighter and now a colleague of Yamasaki, said he has every reason to pile on, but after watching the fight, he’s reluctant to do so.

“I think Mario did a fine job, and believe me, Mario and I have no love lost between each other,” Trigg said while guest-hosting MMAjunkie Radio. “This fool cost me a million dollars. Let’s be very clear: It’s not like, ‘Oh, it’s ‘Big’ John McCarthy, it’s Mike Bell, and it’s Mike Beltran.’ I’ll defend those guys all day long no matter what they do. These are my boys. This guy (Yamasaki), we don’t disagree when we meet with each other, but he cost me a lot of money, and it’s his fault I’m not a millionaire now – back to that one instance he should have stopped the fight and he didn’t (against Hughes). But that’s the way it goes. What he did on Saturday night, I’m totally OK with.”

Trigg said things played out poorly with Shevchenko vs. Cachoeira but said the amount of hate directed at Yamasaki is unjust. He re-watched the fight, and though he would have waved off the action prior to Shevchenko’s fight-ending rear-naked choke, he said Yamasaki handled himself appropriately.

“I would have stopped it a minute earlier, but that’s because I already know the result of the fight; I already know what’s going to happen,” Trigg said. “I wasn’t in the cage. I wasn’t doing it live. From what I watched on Mario, he did everything correct. No sound, but I assume he’s talking to her. Every time she got spoken to she moved. I assume everything he did was exactly within the mechanics of the way I was taught. He was doing it correct.

“It’s his style. He’s always a little bit laid back and delayed when it comes to the stoppages. That’s just how his style is. You have your opponent, but you also have to worry about the ref. It’s getting better obviously not, but you still have to worry about the ref. When you have Mario, you know he’s coming in a little late, and you’ve got to keep going.”

Trigg also said that in the given situation, Cachoeira’s corner could have called off the fight. The Brazilian was out-struck by a staggering 227 total strikes, and she suffered a serious knee injury in the process. Trigg said there’s a responsibility that falls on Cachoeira’s team, as well.

“There’s a lot of stuff that went on,” Trigg said. “The corner could have stopped it at any time, told the inspector, ‘Hey, stop this fight.’ Could’ve easily told her between rounds, ‘Hey, don’t get up because your knee is jacked up.’ Hindsight, we know she had a torn MCL and torn meniscus. Have her stay on the seat between rounds; fight’s over. Let’s get her out of this thing. There’s a lot of ways for that fight to end way before it ended. It could have happened at any of these sequences.”

Trigg said any criticism of Cachoeira herself should be immediately disregarded, though. As a former fighter, Trigg knows it’s unreasonable to expect Cachoeira to give up in the octagon regardless of injuries or damage sustained. But that’s what cornerman, referees and doctors are for.

“Fighters are dumb,” Trigg said. “They’ll continue to fight no matter what. That’s why referees are there – for fighter safety. That’s why corners are supposed to be better – for fighter safety. You’re supposed to be there for your fighter and know when your fighter’s in deep water.”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 125, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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