Michael Chiesa: ‘WTF Ref! He wasn’t choking me out, I was using my neck to burn out his arms!!’ - Oh the stories we tell ourselves.
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The stories we tell ourselves
We all have our own version of the “truth”. I question whether human beings can truly experience objective ‘truth’ but that’s different post for a different time. I do however believe we often interpret events in a way that best suits our own personal narrative.
We like ‘our’ world to make sense to us. The idea of not knowing or being able to hang your hat on anything with certainty, can be too uncomfortable for most of us. Better we lie to ourselves than admit we know nothing.
Cooped up
I often wonder about the stories MMA fighters must tell themselves. What "lies" do fighters buy into that enables them to get into a cage or an octagon, with an absolute killer, waiting to tear their head off.
You would think that most fighters find out a long time before they get to UFC level that they are not bullet-proof. Yet, when the time comes and the bell rings they need to have 100% confidence that they will annihilate the killer opposite them.
Choking
So anyway, I was watching UFC Oklahoma on the weekend. Hometown boy Michael Chiesa was fighting the "Motown Phenom", Detroit’s Kevin Lee. Everyone was expecting a keenly fought, competitive fight. However it didn’t take long for Lee to establish dominance in the fight, getting Chiesa’s back and sinking in the rear naked choke.
Granted, Chiesa has fought his way out of similar dark spots in previous fights. He had indeed started hand fighting Lee’s choke. However at the point referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight Chiesa’s arms had started to suspend in mid-air. It looked like he was slipping into unconscious with less than 30 seconds left in the first round.
To me it looked like a reasonable stoppage:
Conscious unconsciousness
MMA fighters are aware that if they don't tap to a choke (like Conor McGregor was derided for doing his first fight against Nate Diaz), they could go to sleep (like Holy Holm did in her title defence against Miesha Tate). Neither of these narratives are easy to swallow. So many fighters cling to the hope that they can survive the choke until the bell or fatigue (of their opponent) intervenes.
It was no surprise that because Chiesa was neither fully unconscious nor did he tap out, that he protested vehemently about the stoppage. However to me the "truth" was he as clear as day. He was dominated and well beaten by an excellent display from Lee.
Alas, what I think doesn't always square with the public narrative. And the focus after the fight was less on Kevin Lee's breakout performance but more on the competency of referee Yamasaki.
Scapegoat
Pretty much everyone in the MMA circle has the same narrative around Mario Yamasaki. The narrative can be summed up in UFC president Dana White's response to Yamasaki's decision to stop the contest:
Mario Mazzagatti [sic] does it again!!! This guy is more concerned with doing this dumb ass heart bullshit then Ref'n the fight!!! Steals a great moment from Lee or let Mike fight it or tap. Nobody gives a shit that u can make a heart with ur hands like a 12 year old girl they want u to pay attention to what's going on in the fight and do ur job.
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The official line is that 'Yamasaki' is an awful ref with a name that is difficult to spell.
Oxygen starved brain
However I'd like to offer a different perspective. When a fighter is being choked unconscious and is unable (or unwilling) to tap, the referee has a difficult call to make. Judging whether a fighter's lights have been turned off is more than just a matter of win or lose a fight. A decision delayed too long could result in a fighter losing faculties. When a fighter is stretched out, prone and helpless in a choke hold, it is better that a referee stops the fight a little early, then allow a fighter to spend a second longer than they have to with oxygen being starved to their brain.
However that didn't stop Chiesa from laying into Yamasaki:
Hollow argument
It sounds obvious but the best way for a fighter to avoid being a 'victim' of a 'bad choke-out call' is to not allow an opponent to get a choke hold on them in the first place. It is no tactic to allow an elite martial artist to get you in a strangle hold on the basis that 'you can take it' and their arms will burn out. 'I was going to survive, then give him the business in the next round', sounds hollow after the fact.
Anti-climax
As a punter it is easy to feel 'deprived' of a satisfactory outcome. We 'pay' to see spectacular KOs, submissions, choke-outs, rock-em-sock-em robots. However the participants aren't robots. They are flesh, bones and sentient beings. Their window in a truly brutal sport is a small one. Their life is hopefully a long one.
Chiesa will fight another day. He will do so with an easy story to explain his last defeat to himself. "The ref robbed me." Good he should have that. I hope he goes into the next fight bullish off the back of that perspective. However just because he believes he suffered an unjust loss, doesn't make it true.
The ref made a judgment call -- and that has to be accepted. I think the ref made the right call.
I liked your first bit on the lies MMA fighters tell themselves. I think every successful person needs to have this internal mechanism. Otherwise, no one would accomplish anything. The world is too crazy - the odds are always against you. But, thats the beauty - people still succeed. People also lose but there is always tomorrow. Don't have fear, have a short memory, or maybe just be a little crazy -- that's more important than talent.
The ref is there to protect the fighters and made the call. Ultimately he cant complain coz he shouldn't have ended up in that position. He is struggling to swallow this loss
follow me @shifty0g
That is why you never leave it in the hands of the judges! oops I didn't mean it that way. MMA can be eventful. No fighter likes to lose. With the pressures from different directions, some refs tend to allow brutal ass kicking to go on much longer than necessary.
Yep - the second you're lying motionless in the cage, you leave it in the referee's hands to decide whether you're fit to continue.
I was all excited for this fight & as soon as Lee started wailing on his head I kinda thought it would be over. To me it looked like he was about to pass out as well. I don't know I guess we'll never know but maybe if there's a rematch we cans see something better.
Also you can tell Chiesa was so out of it because he let him get behind him like that to choke him so easy. Chiesa was more worried about the fists to the head! (And rightfully so) It would've been over regardless I think.
I was also surprised with how easy it was for Lee to take control. I think most people are disappointed because it wasn't the competitive fight we were expecting. That makes it easy to suggest Chiesa would have survived. However it didn't look like it from where I was sitting!
His arms went limp, he stopped fighting the choke. The only thing the ref should of done that he didn't do, is check to see if the arm was limp and see if he was actually out..but even if he did that, the outcome would of been the same.. he wasn't getting out of that choke, whatsoever. Good analysis as always nanzo!
I've seen refs get criticised for not recognising a fighter had blacked out quick enough... I'm pretty certain Yamasaki would have got criticised for 'checking Chiesa's arm when he was clearly out' had he done that. Some refs can't win!!
most refs would of let that fight go on till he was unconscious or he tapped out so I agree BS
Nanzo I always love your posts, let me just say..
I wanted Lee to win, and I'm happy for him. Chiesa was definitely on the brink of blackness and his body started to stiffen up from lack of oxygen like you mentioned. I've had the body lock and S-Grip on my throat and it's awful, a white belt can finish a black belt from that position. It was surely over...but with that said, Chiesa wasn't out nor did he tap and Yamasaki is a truly terrible ref for more reasons than this one. Just my thoughts bro, have a good one!
I like it bro! I did go with Chiesa tho :( I love my mom 2!"HA HA"
I also just did the Johnson vs Gaethje fight, right now!
Maybe you wanna check it out!
Anyway upvoted and bye :)
UFC is getting ugly! Upvoted and followed!
Good old rear naked choke..