Michael Chiesa’s Appeal Of Kevin Lee Loss Denied By Oklahoma Commission

No change will be made to the controversial finish that transpired nearly a month ago in the main event of the UFC Oklahoma City main event between Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee.

A hearing has been denied to “Maverick” by the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission (OSAC) to appeal his first round submission loss to Lee, via Lee’s manager Daniel Rubenstein. Referee Mario Yamasaki called the main event action last month (Sun. June 25, 2017) between Lee and Chiesa, as “The Motown Phenom” locked in a deep rear-naked choke towards the end of the round.

Yamasaki waived off the action in favor of Lee, although Chiesa never tapped out or was rendered unconscious. Chiesa went off on Yamasaki following the contest in a backstage interview, and filed an appeal to overturn the result to a No Contest due to what he feels was a bad call by the longtime mixed martial arts (MMA) ref. Following a July 12th meeting, after reviewing the fight tape and statements from both Yamasaki and Chiesa, the commission deemed there was “not enough evidence to overturn the referee’s decision.”

OSAC executive director Joe Miller had this to say regarding the matter (via MMA Fighting):

“In the referee’s opinion just prior to the stoppage your hands stopped defending the choke, were in mid-air, wobbly and limp, and were moving towards your waist,” Miller said. “This is confirmed by watching the tape in super slow motion.”

As it pertains to Chiesa seeming to go limp while in the choke, “Maverick” claims in his appeal letter that he did those actions on purpose; attempting to relax his body, engage his core, and shrugging as well as flexing neck muscles to increase blood flow and breathing.

Miller’s response to Chiesa’s explanation – there was no way Yamasaki could have know that’s what he was doing:

“At that point he was in perfect position and acted on what he was seeing,” Miller wrote.

Prior to the choke getting locked in, Chiesa also said he was disappointed Yamasaki did not perform disciplinary action against Lee for illegal 12-to-6 elbows. Miller acknowledged that Lee did, in fact, land illegal 12-to-6 elbows, however, “those strikes did not impact the outcome of the bout and I have addressed this mistake with Mr. Yamasaki.”