Frank Trigg says he became a referee to stop fighters from being "screwed"
At UFC 212, Matthew Lopez beat Johnny Eduardo in the first round via technical knockout. At his home, Frank Trigg says he was screaming at his television for referee Mario Yamasaki to stop the fight well before it ended. On Holy Smokes Fightful MMA's podcast, Trigg talked about what he saw and how referees handle situations like that.
"I haven't talked to Big John McCarthy. Whenever there's what I perceive as a problem in the reffing or a mistake in the reffing, whether how small it is or how big it is, I call John. John just got back on Sunday," said Trigg. "Obviously, everyone who watches the sport realizes that was way too long. I was actually yelling at the screen and probably twenty punches later before he stopped it. Stop the fight. The guy is done. He's not moving," said Trigg.
Trigg said since he has not spoken with John McCarthy, he has to consider the possibility Yamasaki's actions were not as problematic as they seemed on television.
"First you have to give Mario the benefit of the doubt. He's there. He's sitting right there. He has a better view than we do. He might see the guys defending himself, he's moving around. We saw it later on with the Jose Aldo/ Max Halloway fight. Where Aldo is covering himself up looks at Big John McCarthy, turns his head, and says 'I'm fine, I'm fine' then turns back down and keeps getting bombarded. As a result, that fight kept going. We saw that. At home, it was clear on the cameras what was happening. In the other fight, there was nothing clear. So you have to give Mario the benefit of the doubt he saw something because he was there," said Trigg.
Trigg also talked about when Yamasaki cost him a fight in his opinion. He said Matt Hughes was "out" before he came back and beat Trigg at UFC 43. More recently, Trigg has became a licensed mixed-martial-arts referee. He said he became a referee because "there are guys out there are getting screwed."
Holy Smokes airs weekly with host "Showdown Joe" Ferraro and co-host Sean Ross Sapp.
