A fight gone too far.

This Saturday, in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Anders, Valentina Shevchenko entered the ring as a massive favorite over Priscila Cachoeira. Predicatbly, Shevchenko won in dominant fashion, but instead of dispatching Priscila early, she applied a savage two round beating, which elicited widespread outrage directed at the presiding referee, Mario Yamasaki.

FightMetric listed the total strike count as 230-3, with 95-2 significant strikes in favor of Schevchenko. In both rounds, she dominated on the feet before hitting an inside trip. Once on the ground, the real carnage began. Priscila had no answer for anything Schevchenko did no the ground, what ensued was a brutal barrage of elbows and strikes from multiple positions that should have ended the fight. But apparently Mario Yamasaki believed that Priscila was still intelligently defending herself. Mercifully, Schevchenko applied a choke in the second round that ended the fight, but Priscila had to tap multiple times, as Yamasaki did not react initially.

Most outraged at this tragedy might have been Dana White, who posted this on Instagram:

Priscilla Cachoeira, you showed so much heart and toughness in that fight. I’m honored to have you fight in the UFC. Unfortunately the ref is there to protect you and Mario DID NOT do that. This isn’t his first disgusting performance in the octagon. Another unfortunate thing is that i can’t do anything about I?t only the Brazilian commission can and i am hoping after this scary, incompetent showing he hopefully will never set foot in that Octagon again. Strikes landed was 230-3.

A post shared by Dana White (@danawhite) on Feb 3, 2018 at 9:59pm PST

This is hardly the first time Yamasaki has been late stopping a fight. Last year’s knockout of Travis Browne by Derrick Lewis, for example, have helped earn the internet nickname Mario “If he dies, he dies” Yamasaki.

In any case, it is not up to the UFC to fire Yamasaki, it is up the the state commissions, and they are anything if quick to rectify a flagrant problem. It is also worth noting that Priscila’s corner should not escape blame here – they should have stopped the fight as well. UFC Welterweight Mike Perry seemed enticed by what he saw, and sent a playful tweet to his opponent at the upcoming UFC Orlando.

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