UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping is currently on the shelf as he deals with a knee injury.
Bisping was one of many who saw the controversial ending to the UFC Fight Night: Oklahoma City main event and now he wants referee Mario Yamasaki to explain himself.
“A guy with the experience of Yamasaki, when it’s a main event, I think he messed up,” Bisping said on Believe You Me. “I think he messed up and he should have let the fight go a few seconds longer. And I’m only talking a few seconds. As fighters, we train for God knows how long for these fights and generally, the way payment is structured within the UFC is 50-50, 50 percent to show and 50 percent to win. That’s generally how it starts. So not only has he lost the fight, not only does he have another loss on his record, but he lost half his salary. I’ll tell you what I think needs to happen. Listen, I like Mario Yamasaki. He’s been a good referee over the years but when you make a mistake like that I feel that people need to be held accountable. If we make mistakes in the cage as fighters, we are held accountable. If we break the rules, if we flaunt the rules and the authority, then we are often given a fine.”
During his 37 fight MMA career, the British champion has been in fights officiated by Yamasaki a total of three times and he has a record of 2-1-0 in those fights.
Outside of wanting Yamasaki to explain himself, the British slugger would also like to see judges start to explain themselves as well.
“Also, judges. Judges are the scourge of this sport and often you will find a fight happens and one guy clearly dominates and the judges score that fight 30-27, 30-27 but then the third judge will score it 30-27 for the other person,” Bisping said. “So I think in those circumstances, judges that clearly, clearly made a very controversial call, which went against the grain of the other judges, they should have to sit down in a room with some other judges or the commission or whoever it is - maybe the UFC - watch the fight with some other people, and at the end of that round, explain why he scored that round a 10-9 for the guy that he said won it. And if he can’t give a very good reason why it was a 10-9, then it’s very simple. Either he wasn’t paying attention and he made a guess, either he’s not capable of doing the job at hand, or he’s a dodgy judge.”
When Bisping finally does make his return to the Octagon, it would be the first time he has competed since UFC 204.
