Veteran official Mario Yamasaki will serve as the referee for next weekend's UFC 126 main event between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort. Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Kieth Kizer today confirmed the officials' assignments with MMAjunkie.com.
Judging the five-round fight will be Adalaide Byrd, Sal D'Amato and Glenn Trowbridge.
UFC 126 takes place Feb. 5 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The night's main card airs on Spike TV, and two preliminary-card fights air on Spike TV.
Yamasaki, a longtime martial-arts enthusiast, is a veteran referee with organizations such as the UFC, Strikeforce and PRIDE. He showed up on the UFC's radar in 1998, when the organization hosted UFC 17.5 in his native Brazil. Yamasaki helped with the promotional efforts of the show. After meeting him at the event, fellow referee "Big" John McCarthy helped the Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo black belt to become a referee in the sport.
In addition to his reffing duties, Yamasaki currently runs the Yamasaki Academies in the U.S. Northeast.
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