“God Help the Fighters”: UFC Fans Hold Their Breath as Controversial Referee Returns at PFL Event

UFC fans close your eyes, Mario Yamasaki, probably the most controversial referee in UFC history is back officiating MMA fights. The Brazilian referee recently made an appearance in PFL for the first time since the UFC banned him back in 2018 for failing to stop a fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Priscila Cachoeira. And now that he’s back, fans are worried for the fighters.

For anyone who might have missed the fight, Shevchenko had landed more than 200 strikes compared to Cachoeira’s three! So as you can except, fans let the PFL know their displeasure.

“God help the fighters”

 

This fan was sure that some fighter would end up in the hospital, knowing Yamasaki’s history of late stoppages,

“Well somebody definitely visiting the hospital tonight.”

One fan urged others to pray for the fighters today when he saw the Brazilian referee in the cage,

“Pray for tonight’s fighters”

Another fan called out the referee for being resilient and coming back to working as a referee despite all the hate he has received,

“takes a lot of resilience to keep doing a job youre known as one of the worst of all-time at doing”

One more fan prayed for the PFL fighters who were fighting tonight under the watchful eye of Mario Yamasaki,

“God love all the #PFLplayoffs fighters”

Well, the UFC will likely pay no attention to Yamasaki, unless of course, Dana White is asked about it during a press conference and decids to just rant out.

The PFL, meanwhile has all its lights shining on Francis Ngannou  as he steps inside a cage for the first time since he fought in the UFC.

Ngannou’s PFL debut

Francis Ngannou showed out for the fans today as he came to watch the PFL Playoffs live. Joining him was his opponent Renan Ferreira and Jake Paul.

Ahead of their highly awaited fight the two heavyweights entered into the cage for a face-off before Ngannou talked to the fans about feeling the adrenaline.

“You feel the adrenaline coming out…They can expect an impact on October 19th because it’s going to be a massive impact between both of us.”

Despite the loss of his son, the Cameroonian fighter is seemingly ready to risk it all inside a cage again as he wants to continue fighting in the memory of his son.

And given that his opponent Ferreira has already, directly or indirectly, mentioned the late child, this is going to be a Godzilla vs Mothra battle. So fans will be hoping Mario Yamasaki isn’t going to be the referee for their fight because this can get real serious real quick!