Jasen777 wrote:REDDzone wrote:I actually like the narrative that came out of Saturday...Dana blasts Yamasaki for letting an uncompetitive fight go on, yet maybe the UFC deserves some blame for even booking that fight to begin with. A killer like Valentina who some people thought beat the champ of a higher weight class...vs somebody that none of us have ever heard of.
Yamasaki said he did things by the rules (except he was slow on the tap). And he might have been right. "Intelligently" (that is defending in such a way) seems very open to interpretation. There's no "mismatch" criteria for stopping a fight, or "the accumulated damage from this fight has done great harm to the fighter's future health" clause to stop the fight. I'd be open for a revisiting of the rules, but it might be something that is never going to be perfect (especially with corners never saving their fighter).
It was an uncompetitive fight, but Valentina is going to smash just about everyone in that division. I think they should have let her have the title shot right away (though I guess that doesn't really solve the isssue).
The Brasilian commission themselves came out against Yamasaki in an interesting way. https://www.mmafighting.com/2018/2/6/16977948/cabmma-issues-statement-on-controversial-belem-co-main-event
They said, a) the fight should have been stopped, b) they criticized Yamasaki for thinking he was letting Priscilla "be a warrior" (his words).
They said: "those are two attitudes that should not interfere or confuse the referee when it comes to stoppages."
It's a good point, I guess? But maybe not.