Fans will have to wait a little longer to watch Rousimar Palhares back in competition.
Palhares’ manager, Alex Davis, revealed to MMAFighting.com that the fighter was forced to cancel his submission match with fellow UFC veteran Dean Lister at next weekend’s World Jiu-Jitsu Expo 2013 in Long Beach, California, due to injury.
“He has a shoulder injury and is a little overweight, but the main reason why he decided to pull out of the fight is because of the injury,” Davis told MMAFighting.com on Monday.
WJJE president Renzo Gracie decided to include Palhares in the event “after everybody started criticizing him” for holding the heel hook too long in his 31-second submission victory over Mike Pierce at UFC Fight Night 29 in Brazil, and expects to have him on the event next year.
“He has a shoulder injury,” Gracie told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s The MMA Hour. “They train very intensively there. It’s different. It won’t be possible to have him on the event this year, but he said he’ll come back next year.”
Lister doesn’t have a new opponent yet, though.
“Right now, we’re trying to get him a fight,” Gracie said. “It will be an unbelievable show.”
Palhares was criticized by fans and media for his behavior during his UFN 29 win, but Renzo Gracie doesn’t think he deserves the harsh words.
“Palhares is like a 12 years old kid,” he said. “He was raised in a farm in Brazil, and you can’t picture a farm in Iowa. He’s so naive. The reality is, he has a completely different mindset. They’re born like Indians, and it’s like getting an Indian from the jungle and expect them to live here.”
Check below the complete lineup of World Jiu-Jitsu Expo:
Saturday, Nov. 9:
Caio Terra vs. Nam Pham
Rafael Lovato vs. TBA
Samuel Braga vs. João Miyao
Efrain Escudero vs. Philipe Nover
Sunday, Nov. 10:
Jake Shields vs. Leandro “Lo” Nascimento
Dean Lister vs. TBA
Paulo Miyao vs. Jon Fitch
Lucas Leite vs. Keenan Cornelius
Bruno Malfacine vs. Jeff Glover