Strikeforce middleweight titlist Luke Rockhold has accused Anderson Silva of greasing and short grabbing in his UFC 148 championship title bout against Chael Sonnen. He wasn’t too happy with the knee to Sonnen’s chest either, citing bad intentions on the part of the Brazilian.
From Rockhold, originally reported by Luke Thomas of MMAFighting.com (h/t MMAMania.com):
I call it like I see it and [the win] just looked dirty to me. [Silva] greased himself again. After the Vitor [Belfort] fight I saw him grease himself. I wasn’t very fond of that first one. He did it again, blatantly. And then the shorts grab. And then finally the knee, it ended up legal, but it looked like bad intentions. All that together, it just wasn’t very champion-like for me. I want to see a respectful champion out there. I know emotions might get high with all the crap talking, but you gotta keep those separate and gotta fight clean.
It was quite obvious that Silva tugged at Sonnen’s shorts, though, whether the grabbing and/or the alleged excessive grease had anything to do with the final result is debatable. Sonnen as of yet hasn’t made a brouhaha about said infractions.
Following several years of antagonism from the Oregon native, the Silva-Sonnen II saga ended with the Brazilian’s arm raised aloft in triumphant over his arch rival.
Up until that night “Uncle Chael” is and has been the only man to have come closest to unseating “The Spider.” However, those title aspirations eviscerated via triangle-armbar in their first encounter back at UFC 117.
Apropos greasing, under the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s guidelines for MMA, Section NAC 467.598 refers to the physical appearance of unarmed combatants, but rule No. 2 specifically makes reference to the use of greasing.
2. The excessive use of grease or any other foreign substance may not be used on the face or body of an unarmed combatant. The referees or the Commission’s representative in charge shall cause any excessive grease or foreign substance to be removed.
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