Carlo Prater Blasts ‘Unethical’ Joe Rogan for His Criticism of Mario Yamasaki at UFC

http://www.cagepotato.com/carlo-prat...ki-at-ufc-142/
(“What is…a donkey punch?”)

Joe Rogan has never been one to hide his opinions. Whether it’s an early stoppage, a late stoppage, or a botched judges’ decision, many UFC fights have ended with Rogan passionately expressing his disagreement. But at UFC 142 earlier this month, Rogan went even further and corralled veteran referee Mario Yamasaki for an unscheduled post-fight interview, asking Yamasaki to justify his disqualification of Erick Silva for shots to the back of the head. It was an uncomfortable moment, but as Rogan explained, he felt it was his duty to ask the questions that the viewers might have.

One notable fighter has come forward to defend Yamasaki — Carlo Prater, the guy who actually took the alleged illegal shots from Silva that night. As Prater sees it, his perspective and Yamasaki’s perspective hold a lot more weight than Joe Rogan’s, who’s just a “swagger,” in his opinion. (Continue reading for a definition of “swagger” as used in this context. It might not be what you think.) Here’s what Prater told SportTV.com in a new interview:

“I felt very strong blows in the region of my neck and my right shoulder. I felt very painful shocks. I was trying to overthrow Erick on the floor, out of instinct, but I could not because it was the worst physical pain I’ve ever had in my entire life. I think in the end I was made out as a villain. I had to stay in the hospital until Monday. They asked me not to go public because, indeed, that wouldn’t do any good for me or Erick. In my opinion, Mario did the right thing. You are not allowed to do anything you want inside the cage. Watching the fight video, I could see at least nine blows to the back of the head.”

“I think the way Joe Rogan behaved was completely unethical. He went with the crowd. A real professional doesn’t do that. He was acting like a fan when he should be acting as a commentator. Mario is a million times more competent than him. He’s been living off this for 20 years. Joe Rogan is just a swagger, someone who walks amongst fighters but isn’t really a fighter himself. He doesn’t understand. Whatever, human beings make mistakes and I am not going to be holding grudges against him.”

Was it a controversial moment? Absolutely, especially when you consider all the UFC fights that have ended with shots to the back of the head that weren’t called disqualifications. But it’s nice to get the other guy’s perspective once in a while. Even one illegal blow should call a fight’s result into question

First of all, Rogan is most certainly a fighter. 10th Planet brown belt, TKD black belt, that's fucking legit if u ask me! Rogan's honesty and opinions about the fights are a big part of what makes the UFC greater than the other promotions. I don't know about the rest of you, but I seriously missed his commentary during the last UFC on FX. Rogan and Goldie are integral. Sure, Rogan screws up sometimes but shit he's live and acting based on what he sees and how he interprets what he sees. If you don't agree with his perspective, ignore it, it's still 100x better than fucking frank shamrock or that god damn Mauro jackass. Leave Rogan alone Prater, the UFC needs him! End of story!

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Originally Posted by Matt "Gumby" Glach

. I don't know about the rest of you, but I seriously missed his commentary during the last UFC on FX. Rogan and Goldie are integral.

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Yes, it sucks when Rogan isn't at a event. Its not the same without him that's for sure! Even watching the weigh ins sucked! Joe Rogan not legit....Prater is smoking crack. What a douche!

Either way as a Ref you should be prepared to defend your actions at all times. I feel it was a legit disqual...this is the UFC not a street brawl. Hitting someone in the back of the head is dangerous and if someone get seriously injured (or dies) in an MMA event it can give our sport a bad wrap. Mario is there to ensure the safety of the fighters and he did that. In addition to that Joe was well within his right to ask Mario about the call. He was doing his job as an interviewer. Lastly to say Joe isn't a fighter just means he didn't do his homework and shot off at the mouth without thinking. In closing there was no reason to go after Joe about this so sit down and shut up...

He's just crying cause he's afraid he's gonna lose his win

I thought it was a mostly decision on Mario's part

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Originally Posted by Brent Smith

He's just crying cause he's afraid he's gonna lose his win

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+1

Hes trying to distract those that saw him get his ass beat. Also must be a new rule I wasn't aware of that you can't punch the shoulder. ;)

9 blows to the back of the head, dude got hit in that shoulder harder that I thought. Joe did exactly what he should have, made Mario accountable for his actions.

anyone have a video of it?

http://www.fightvideomma.com/2012/01...ght-video.html

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Originally Posted by Chris Herzog

+1

Hes trying to distract those that saw him get his ass beat. Also must be a new rule I wasn't aware of that you can't punch the shoulder. ;)

9 blows to the back of the head, dude got hit in that shoulder harder that I thought. Joe did exactly what he should have, made Mario accountable for his actions.

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I agree Joe did the right thing but so did Mario. The safety of the fighter is paramount.

How many times do you think he hit him in the back of the head?

http://i39.tinypic.com/14e55ix.gif

The last three shots looked illegal to me. If you watch the video and blow it up his ear is covered by the tricepts. His forearm does hit the back of the head and this totals too 4 shots. But regardless they were not intentional and Silva did overwelhm him. And it's obvious that Silva is a better fighter so he should have won still.

But, textbook wise Mario should have made it at least a no contest not a DQ.

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Originally Posted by Jonathan Wylie

http://i39.tinypic.com/14e55ix.gif

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beat me to it. Might as well have a rematch and add insult to injury. Watch Erick smash him with no controversy.

Worst physical pain he had ever had in his entire life.

Should be a NC, it's not like Silva was showing a blatant disregard for the rules, he was swarming on Prater and some of the shots strayed slightly, ok, it's a fight, it happens. Ref's job, IMO, should've been to stand them back up, give Prater his 5 min to recover and warn or penalize Silva depending on the severity of the infraction. From what I saw, that deserved nothing more than a warning and the loss of position for Silva. I think what pissed Joe off was the timing of the call, where it seemed that Prater's complaints helped coax that decision from the ref, who knows? They should take back that Matt Serra win where Matt lands a hook behind GSP's ear and wobbles him up, enough to swarm and finish. If that's the official rule and all.

“I think the way Joe Rogan behaved was completely unethical. He went with the crowd. A real professional doesn’t do that. He was acting like a fan when he should be acting as a commentator. Mario is a million times more competent than him. He’s been living off this for 20 years. Joe Rogan is just a swagger, someone who walks amongst fighters but isn’t really a fighter himself. He doesn’t understand. Whatever, human beings make mistakes and I am not going to be holding grudges against him.”

Apparently he's never watched boxing, I've seen boxing commentators question a fighter or ref about a decision, choice, their behavior or even ask a ref what he was seeing from his perspective many times. Saying Joe isn't professional and was acting like a fan, well that's just stupidity. It's one of the commentator's jobs to be the voice of the fans and to ask the questions the fans want to know about and to explain why a certain call was or was not made. Joe was very professional and handled it exactly as he should of.

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Originally Posted by Compella

Should be a NC, it's not like Silva was showing a blatant disregard for the rules, he was swarming on Prater and some of the shots strayed slightly, ok, it's a fight, it happens. Ref's job, IMO, should've been to stand them back up, give Prater his 5 min to recover and warn or penalize Silva depending on the severity of the infraction. From what I saw, that deserved nothing more than a warning and the loss of position for Silva. I think what pissed Joe off was the timing of the call, where it seemed that Prater's complaints helped coax that decision from the ref, who knows? They should take back that Matt Serra win where Matt lands a hook behind GSP's ear and wobbles him up, enough to swarm and finish. If that's the official rule and all.

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Word Compella, at the very worst, it should be a NC. Jon Jones 12/6 elbow deserves a DQ. Wes Sims trying to stomp Mir years ago deserves a DQ. An incidental shot to the back of the head, when Erick was clearly trying to keep all his shots clean, doesn't deserve a DQ. IMO, Erick displayed enough dominance that he deserved the win. But at worst it should've been a NC.

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Originally Posted by Andrew Maxwell

“I think the way Joe Rogan behaved was completely unethical. He went with the crowd. A real professional doesn’t do that. He was acting like a fan when he should be acting as a commentator. Mario is a million times more competent than him. He’s been living off this for 20 years. Joe Rogan is just a swagger, someone who walks amongst fighters but isn’t really a fighter himself. He doesn’t understand. Whatever, human beings make mistakes and I am not going to be holding grudges against him.”

Apparently he's never watched boxing, I've seen boxing commentators question a fighter or ref about a decision, choice, their behavior or even ask a ref what he was seeing from his perspective many times. Saying Joe isn't professional and was acting like a fan, well that's just stupidity. It's one of the commentator's jobs to be the voice of the fans and to ask the questions the fans want to know about and to explain why a certain call was or was not made. Joe was very professional and handled it exactly as he should of.

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I said the same thing on Sherdog. Larry Merchant always grills refs and fighters. Post fight interviewers have never shied away from that. I guess some guys get so involved in actually fighting that they don't keep up with the sport they participate in. Kind of ironic. I think GSP mentioned something like that before.

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Originally Posted by Charlemange August K.

The last three shots looked illegal to me. If you watch the video and blow it up his ear is covered by the tricepts. His forearm does hit the back of the head and this totals too 4 shots. But regardless they were not intentional and Silva did overwelhm him. And it's obvious that Silva is a better fighter so he should have won still.

But, textbook wise Mario should have made it at least a no contest not a DQ.

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A strike is legal if the glove touches the ear, regardless if the forearm hits the back of the head.

In the Post Fight Interview its Joe Rogan's job to ASK THE QUESTIONS WE "THE AUDIENCE" WANT TO HEAR... I honestly didn't find what he had to say disrespectful at all.

Joe Rogan: I love Yamasaki; explains questioning of call
18 days ago | source: The Undeground | 60236 Views | 311 Comments


From: Joe Rogan
Posted: 1/15/2011 3:45 AM
Member Since: 1/1/01
Posts: 5383

He's a great guy, and I'm always happy to see him. When I step into the octagon however, I represent the people watching at home that might have obvious questions, and when something is controversial I'm forced to confront it honestly because that's what I would want to hear from a person in my position if I was a fan watching it at home.

It was obviously a controversial call, and I'm sure some of you agree with it, but I certainly think it's also possible to argue that it was a bad call. That was my perspective, so I had to express it. I'm not a perfect person, and I fuck up all the time. It's a part of life.

Great referees have made awful mistakes. Even the consensus nominee for the greatest referee of all time, my personal friend the great Big John McCarthy has made mistakes.
Remember when Bustamante had to tap out Matt Linland twice?

Calling fight as a referee is hard as FUCK. If I was a referee Dana would probably hate me more than he hates Mazagatti. I wouldn't want that job! That's a shit load of pressure.

I think Mario Yamasaki is one of the best in the world at refereeing MMA. No doubt about it.
He's got great insight to the sport, he's a life long martial artist, and he's a really smart guy.
What I was acting from, is that I saw an incredible young talent get denied a KO victory for a questionable call. When I entered into the Octagon and was told of the official ruling that Silva was going to be disqualified for illegal blows to the back of the head everyone that I was around who heard the news opened their mouths in shock. Everyone said, "what?"

The people in the truck couldn't believe it. I had to read it back to them because I thought it was a mistake, and when I leaned over to explain it to Goldie he couldn't believe it either.
I had to ask Mario about it. I didn't know how he was going to respond, but I had to ask him.

Erick Silva is a very promising fighter and I felt like I had a responsibility to adress the issue.
No disrespect intended.

In before TL;DR