Rousimar Palhares won’t compete at the next edition of the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship.
The jiu-jitsu black belt, who earned his spot in the 2013 edition of ADCC with a second place in the last edition in 2011, will not compete in this weekend’s tournament in Beijing, China.
ADCC officials in Brazil confirmed to MMAFighting.com that Palhares was removed from this year’s tournament when he didn’t answer several messages and calls that were made since his controversial submission victory over Mike Pierce at UFC Fight Night 29 in Barueri, Brazil, Oct. 9. Tatame first reported the news.
“He said he would fight depending on how his fight (with Pierce) went,” Wagner Gomes, the secretary of ADCC in Brazil, told MMAFighting.com on Tuesday. “I sent him several messages, but he didn’t respond. They wanted him there, but he didn’t reply any of my messages or calls.”
According to Gomes, ADCC still wanted Palhares to be part of the tournament despite of what happened during his fight with Pierce.
“They called me and said ‘ask (Palhares) if he still wants to fight,” he said.
Palhares used his famous heel hook to submit Dan Schon, David Avellan and Rafaelo Lovato Jr. at ADCC 2011 in Nottingham, England, but lost to Andre Galvao in the final. Galvao also won the gold medal in the absolute division, automatically giving Palhares his spot in the -88kg division.
The -88kg division now has 14 competitors, including UFC’s Dong Hyun Kim.
Ben Henderson (-77kg) and Vinny Magalhaes (+99kg) are also set to fight at ADCC 2013, and the superfights will feature Andre Galvao vs. Braulio Estima and Fabio Gurgel vs. Mario Sperry.