The UFC apparently won't wait for word from Brazil's MMA commission before making a decision on Rousimar Palhares.
UFC President Dana White on Thursday told ESPN that the welterweight has been released from the promotion and won't fight for the company again following his submission win over Mike Pierce on Wednesday night.
At UFC Fight Night 29, which took place at Jose Correa Arena in Barueri, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Palhares (15-5 MMA, 8-4 UFC) caught Mike Pierce (17-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) by the leg right away in the first round. Pierce escaped initially, but Palhares stayed after his leg – his specialty.
And on his second try, he wrapped up an ankle lock. As Pierce started to tap, referee Keith Peterson dived in to get the Brazilian to release the hold. But even as Pierce continued tapping – eventually on Peterson's back – Palhares appeared to hold the leg longer still.
(Watch the Palhares vs. Pierce finish.)
After the card was over, UFC officials said they were not going to award Palhares with what would have been a $50,000 "Submission of the Night" bonus based on the Comissao Atletica Brasileira de MMA (CABMMA) looking into whether or not Palahares was "unsportsmanlike" in his finish.
It was not the first time Palhares has been in the situation. Three years ago, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board suspended Palhares for 90 days when it was determined he held a heel hook too long against Tomasz Drwal.
But it appears that it may be the last time he does it in the UFC. Palhares had dropped to welterweight for the first time after a two-fight skid at middleweight, and after testing positive for elevated testosterone levels in a loss to Hector Lombard this past December.
His UFC debut came at UFC 84 in May 2008, which he won "Submission of the Night" with an armbar. All told, Palhares has eight leg submissions in his career.
But now he will be going after his next one for another promotion.
For more on UFC Fight Night 29, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
Good. Stupid bastard doesn't deserve another chance to injure someone and I hope no one else picks him up either. What promotion would want a guy so stupid that he can't let go of a submission?
He can take his dumb ass back out into the fields to make a living or carry shingles up a ladder for the rest of his life.
I am not a Palhares fan, but I thought the loss of $50K was good enough. That and a warning that one more time and your done. Not really going to lose any sleep over it though.
I watched the fights this morning and I didn't think that Pallhares had any malicious intent to injury Pierce.
He held it MAYBE 2 seconds after Pierce tapped? True it might be long enough to do some damage, but that guys adrenaline is pumping like crazy.
We see guys get tagged in the liver and drop like flies, it doesn't mean they're out. Sometimes guys shout out in pain so I have the feeling he just wanted to be sure buddy tapped and everyone saw it.
It isn't the fact that Palhares held the sub too long this time. It is the fact that he has done this MANY times already and has already been punished for it in the past. The guy never learns and continues to do potentially permanent damage to other fighters because of his actions.
Palhares does more damage to the UFC then he does good so honestly I don't have an issue with this.
I'm with some of you guys, it's just too dangerous and bad for the organization/sport to let a guy like that fight there anymore. It's been at least twice now that this has happened and he has a history of doing it during camp/training.
******* dana white, doesn't know how to make a good decision if it smacked him in the face. Jesus let's just turn this into ***** without strikes or submissions while we are at it.
Very good decision by the UFC in my opinion, this isn't the first time and obviously Palhares does'nt get it.
If Palhares would of went on to damage another fighter permanently because of this stupidity the UFC would look incredibly bad for keeping this can around. No reason to hold onto him any longer.
Did the ufc fine him 50k or something? I dont get how he had 50k take. Away from him. Because he didn't get a bonus? Most fighters do not. It is not guaranteed money.
Again, many people have had average finishes but since they were the only one to get that of it's type on the card they win it by default. Also Mike Pierce should be cut too since he lost this fight in 31 seconds so no way he deserves to stay just because he was the victim of grappling domination.
I say good riddance. He has a long history of holding onto submissions too long. There is never a reason to hold onto a sub like that even if there is bad blood. Holding onto a submission has only one intent & that's to injure.
I'm a little late to this thread but I wanted to respond to this. This is an apples to oranges comparison, a better comparison would be after the fight is over do you still throw punches/kicks? The best example would be Rampage vs Wandy, many of us felt that Rampage should have been fined/punished for the additional cheap shots after the ref was pulling him off.
I wasn't pissed he held it long. To me it appeared be looked right at the ref, seen the fight was ending and then cranked it again. That should get him cut imo.
The way I saw it he did not notice the ref at all.
I'm not saying that the UFC was wrong to cut him. He has done this in the past and rightfully been warned. But I am pretty convinced that he is not trying to injure his opponents. He just doesn't seem to be as mentally sharp as most other guys in the cage (nicest way I can think of to call him dumb), and it all happens too fast for him to act responsibly.
A part of me feel bad for Palhares, but I feel worse for his opponent's knees. That move is just too dangerous to be done by a guy who isn't capable of releasing IMMEDIATELY after getting the tap.
EDIT: Video on previous page makes it clear to me that he did not notice the ref.
Good move by the UFC. If it was Palhares' first, second, third, forth, fifth, sixth or seventh warning maybe don't cut him. However, the dude is just an idiot and I'm glad he's gone.
Apparently to stupid dana it is, no soccer kicks and no knees on the ground and now no blame on the refs and giving the phantom tappers an even better chance of escaping
I wonder if anyone will pick him up. If this was just a one-time thing like Daley, sure, other promotions would jump on him. But this guy is just sadistic. I don't think I've ever seen one of his fights were he didn't crank it after the tap.
I think other promotions would do well to blacklist him, to make sure another fool doesn't get something like this in his head. And fortunately, he's not a great of a loss to MMA, though he's probably the best leglocker in game. That's a little disappointing.
This is Bullshit , ******* pathetic , Any eccuse the get to cut a guy , they immidiatly take it , so they could bring new guys that so they can pay them less... ******* stupid ..
Fireing someone for beeing to good at his job .... ******* Dana its a hypocritical puppet , he always whines about guys not bringing it , this guy always brought it ffs...
Paul harris was been handed a ban by one of the commisions while in the UFC for doing this before, so it's not like he didn't know is it. It may not have been long but don't forget it's not like he's not applying pressure. He's top level at this stuff.
Also, don't forget Babalu got cut by the UFC and banned for not letting go of a sub as well, so the precedent was set back then.
Paul Harris now joins Babalu and Paul Daley on the banned forever list.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Mixed Martial Arts Forum
1.9M posts
52.9K members
Since 2006
A mixed martial art forum community dedicated to the different arts of MMA. Come talk about UFC results, Bellator matches, The Ultimate Fighter and more!