Marlon Moraes picked up a nice chunk of change for the latest defense of his World Series of Fighting title. Moraes, the promotion’s only ever bantamweight champion, inked a new deal with WSOF in June. On Saturday that deal came to fruition, as Moraes earned a $140,000 payday for his third-round submission over Sheymon Moraes in WSOF 22’s co-main event, according to information released by the Nevada Athletic Commission to MMAFighting.com.
Aside from Moraes, the card’s leading earner was welterweight champion Rousimar Palhares, though his take was half of what it could’ve been. Palhares earned $40,000 in show money for his controversial victory over Jake Shields in WSOF 22’s headlining bout, but his $40,000 win bonus was withheld by the NAC due to Palhares’ actions in the contest.
Palhares committed several eye gouges on Shields and held his winning submission for several moments after Shields tapped out. Both WSOF and the NAC are expected to review Palhares’ behavior.
WSOF 22 took place Aug. 1 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The night’s main card aired live on NBC Sports Network.
A complete breakdown of WSOF 22’s salaries can be seen below, although these figures do not represent a fighter’s total earnings, as sponsorship money is not publicly disclosed.
*Nevada Athletic Commission withheld win bonus from Palhares
Marlon Moraes picked up a nice chunk of change for the latest defense of his World Series of Fighting title. Moraes, the promotion’s only ever bantamweight champion, inked a new deal with WSOF in June. On Saturday that deal came to fruition, as Moraes earned a $140,000 payday for his third-round submission over Sheymon Moraes in WSOF 22’s co-main event, according to information released by the Nevada Athletic Commission to MMAFighting.com.
Aside from Moraes, the card’s leading earner was welterweight champion Rousimar Palhares, though his take was half of what it could’ve been. Palhares earned $40,000 in show money for his controversial victory over Jake Shields in WSOF 22’s headlining bout, but his $40,000 win bonus was withheld by the NAC due to Palhares’ actions in the contest.
Palhares committed several eye gouges on Shields and held his winning submission for several moments after Shields tapped out. Both WSOF and the NAC are expected to review Palhares’ behavior.
WSOF 22 took place Aug. 1 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The night’s main card aired live on NBC Sports Network.
A complete breakdown of WSOF 22’s salaries can be seen below, although these figures do not represent a fighter’s total earnings, as sponsorship money is not publicly disclosed.
LAS VEGAS — Rousimar Palhares’ fate has yet to be decided following his controversial actions at World Series of Fighting 22, but Jake Shields’ manager, Tareq Azim, hopes the Brazilian’s latest run-in with the rules is his last.
“I think he…
LAS VEGAS — Rousimar Palhares‘ fate has yet to be decided following his controversial actions at World Series of Fighting 22, but Jake Shields‘ manager, Tareq Azim, hopes the Brazilian’s latest run-in with the rules is his last.
“I think he should be kicked out of the sport,” Azim told MMAFighting.com. “That’s why I love what the UFC did. The UFC made a statement that, look, this isn’t good for the sport. This isn’t good for the brand. This isn’t good for anything. He’s ruining careers.”
Palhares retained his WSOF welterweight title with a kimura over Shields in Saturday night’s main event, however the contest was marred by several fouls. Palhares received a warning from referee Steve Mazzagatti for repeated eye gouges while mounted in the second round, then cranked hard on the fight-winning submission after Shields tapped out in the third.
Shields was ultimately transported to the hospital with his arm in a sling and complaints of blurred vision. Azim posted a grisly photo later in the night, documenting the damage to Shields’ eyes.
The incidents were a continuation of the pattern of foul play that led to Palhares’ release from the UFC in 2013. Terms of Palhares’ deal with WSOF included a zero-tolerance policy against such episodes, and the promotion is expected to make an announcement Tuesday regarding the future of its welterweight champion.
WSOF vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz previously told MMAFighting.com that Palhares may be suspended and stripped of his title for his actions.
It wouldn’t be the first time Palhares has come under fire for his erratic behavior. His 2010 heel hook of Tomasz Drwal drew a 90-day suspension from the New Jersey state commission, and his 2013 incident with Mike Pierce cost Palhares his job in the UFC. Add in a failed drug test for elevated levels of testosterone in 2012, plus a spotty record of misconduct in grappling tournaments and similar questionable calls under the WSOF banner, and Azim believes enough evidence is out there to warrant a harsher sentence against Palhares.
“I think he’s a terrible, terrible, terrible example of a fighter,” Azim said. “I think someone at this level, and the capacity of what this sport has turned into today, you should be the biggest model of a true martial artist. And he’s completely the opposite of that.
“He’s that type of guy who just shows you, look, if you can’t train and be technical and learn the art and be a true practitioner of the chess game, then go ahead and cheat your way through. Go ahead and hurt people. Go ahead and do things that aren’t allowed, especially if you’ve got someone like Mazzagatti — which, I’m sure he was well aware that Mazzagatti isn’t a guy who understands anything, so let’s go ahead and get away with that.”
In the interim, the Nevada Athletic Commission withheld Palhares’ win bonus on Saturday night, and Abdel-Aziz expects the commission to take a closer look at suspending the 35-year-old.
Palhares, though, expressed ignorance of any wrongdoing in both the immediate aftermath of the bout and in the hours afterward, stating that the eyepokes were accidental and that he released his winning submission the moment he felt Mazzagatti grab his back to stop the fight.
“Obviously that’s his claim, obviously that’s what he’s going to say,” Azim said in response. “He’s the kind of guy who consistently gets by on doing this, so anyone in this situation who doesn’t get penalized, or in trouble for doing what he does, is obviously going to think it’s right. It’s an unfortunate situation, that he consistently gets away with damaging people’s careers, hurting people’s careers, and pushing fans away.
“But what do you expect? It’s who the guy is. And until he gets penalized for it, or until there’s some sort of movement, like the UFC put on that idiot, the guy will never learn his lesson and it’ll be okay. It’s okay for him because he’s just not getting points deducted, he’s not getting penalized, he’s not getting disqualified for it.”
LAS VEGAS — Rousimar Palhares believes all the controversy over his World Series of Fighting 22 win against Jake Shields is much ado about nothing.
Palhares defeated Shields to retain his WSOF welterweight title on Saturday night, but his divisive tactics drew the ire of both Shields and promotion officials. The biggest point of contention was a series of eye gouges that seemed to swing the fight midway through the bout’s second round. Shields had dominated Palhares up to that point and had the champion mounted, but lost via submission in the ensuing round.
Shields was ultimately transported to the hospital with complaints of blurred vision, and Shields’ manager, Tareq Azim, posted a picture Sunday morning of the grim damage he claimed was from the eyepokes. For his part, Shields didn’t mince his words, dismissing Palhares’ tactics as “absolutely blatant cheating” and calling the Brazilian a “dirty, dirty, fighter” in a furious post-fight rant.
Palhares, however, denied any intentional wrongdoing.
“I just protected myself,” Palhares told MMAFighting.com through a translator. “He put his head on my nose. I just put my hand there to protect myself. I did not put my fingers in his eyes. You can see it at the time.”
Palhares also denied accusations that he deliberately cranked on his fight-winning kimura in the moments after Shields submitted.
“I did not hold his arm (after the tap),” Palhares said. “The [referee] said to me before the fight, ‘just go out there, if I put my hand on you, stop.’ And when he put his hand on me, I stopped. I stopped. Sometimes in the fight, it’s hard, it’s difficult to feel something. When it felt it, I [stopped].”
While Palhares may continue to proclaim his innocence, WSOF officials do not agree. Vice president and matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz announced over the weekend that both of Shields’ complaints were valid and the promotion intends to make an announcement regarding Palhares’ future on Tuesday.
Abdel-Aziz previously floated the possibility of stripping Palhares of his WSOF welterweight title and suspending him for his actions, largely because of Palhares’ lengthy rap sheet of past transgressions.
“I like Palhares, I think he’s a nice guy, but I think he has problems,” Abdel-Aziz said on Saturday night. “I think he has problems, and we had an amazing event, and he didn’t have to hold (the submission late). He didn’t have to hold at all because he won, he tapped him. Let him go. Let the guy go.”
Palhares, 35, is one of the most talented submission artists in his division, but his repeated issues have tarnished his reputation to the point where his future among the top-tier of the sport may very well be in jeopardy.
His refusal to release submissions was the exact thing that caused him to be exiled from the UFC, and that troubling pattern has again come under fire in WSOF. That, in addition to the eye gouges, prompted Azim to call for Palhares to be banned from professional MMA competition, pointing to WSOF 22 as what he believed should be the final straw.
As he has done in the past, though, Palhares insisted the situation with Shields was nothing more than a misunderstanding.
“I’m so sad, because I’m not a dirty fighter,” Palhares said. “I just had good position, you know? And sometimes the fight is difficult. If you see the fight, I won in the striking with Jake Shields, I put a lot of hands on him, and I put him in (bad) positions. So when guys say that I’m dirty, I’m so sad about that.”
LAS VEGAS — Rousimar Palhares believes all the controversy over his World Series of Fighting 22 win against Jake Shields is much ado about nothing.
Palhares defeated Shields to retain his WSOF welterweight title on Saturday night, but his divisive tactics drew the ire of both Shields and promotion officials. The biggest point of contention was a series of eye gouges that seemed to swing the fight midway through the bout’s second round. Shields had dominated Palhares up to that point and had the champion mounted, but lost via submission in the ensuing round.
Shields was ultimately transported to the hospital with complaints of blurred vision, and Shields’ manager, Tareq Azim, posted a picture Sunday morning of the grim damage he claimed was from the eyepokes. For his part, Shields didn’t mince his words, dismissing Palhares’ tactics as “absolutely blatant cheating” and calling the Brazilian a “dirty, dirty, fighter” in a furious post-fight rant.
Palhares, however, denied any intentional wrongdoing.
“I just protected myself,” Palhares told MMAFighting.com through a translator. “He put his head on my nose. I just put my hand there to protect myself. I did not put my fingers in his eyes. You can see it at the time.”
Palhares also denied accusations that he deliberately cranked on his fight-winning kimura in the moments after Shields submitted.
“I did not hold his arm (after the tap),” Palhares said. “The [referee] said to me before the fight, ‘just go out there, if I put my hand on you, stop.’ And when he put his hand on me, I stopped. I stopped. Sometimes in the fight, it’s hard, it’s difficult to feel something. When it felt it, I [stopped].”
While Palhares may continue to proclaim his innocence, WSOF officials do not agree. Vice president and matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz announced over the weekend that both of Shields’ complaints were valid and the promotion intends to make an announcement regarding Palhares’ future on Tuesday.
Abdel-Aziz previously floated the possibility of stripping Palhares of his WSOF welterweight title and suspending him for his actions, largely because of Palhares’ lengthy rap sheet of past transgressions.
“I like Palhares, I think he’s a nice guy, but I think he has problems,” Abdel-Aziz said on Saturday night. “I think he has problems, and we had an amazing event, and he didn’t have to hold (the submission late). He didn’t have to hold at all because he won, he tapped him. Let him go. Let the guy go.”
Palhares, 35, is one of the most talented submission artists in his division, but his repeated issues have tarnished his reputation to the point where his future among the top-tier of the sport may very well be in jeopardy.
His refusal to release submissions was the exact thing that caused him to be exiled from the UFC, and that troubling pattern has again come under fire in WSOF. That, in addition to the eye gouges, prompted Azim to call for Palhares to be banned from professional MMA competition, pointing to WSOF 22 as what he believed should be the final straw.
As he has done in the past, though, Palhares insisted the situation with Shields was nothing more than a misunderstanding.
“I’m so sad, because I’m not a dirty fighter,” Palhares said. “I just had good position, you know? And sometimes the fight is difficult. If you see the fight, I won in the striking with Jake Shields, I put a lot of hands on him, and I put him in (bad) positions. So when guys say that I’m dirty, I’m so sad about that.”
LAS VEGAS — This time may have been one time too many for Rousimar Palhares. The reigning World Series of Fighting welterweight champion defended his belt Saturday night against Jake Shields with a brilliant third-round kimura at WSOF 22, but yet again found himself in hot water due to a series of eye gouges and a failure release his fight-winning submission in a timely manner.
When Palhares was signed to WSOF, he was done so on a zero-tolerance policy due to his notorious past. WSOF vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz told MMAFighting.com post-fight that he will need to re-watch tape of the controversies, but if he sees something that broke that policy, the punishments will be severe.
“You have to understand, I’m the guy who f**king stood up for him,” Abdel-Aziz said. “I don’t know if you remember or not, but I’m the guy who said, ‘you know what, I’m going to sign him.’ If I go back on tape and watch that f**king fight tomorrow, and if I see Palhares held too long, and did the eye poking a couple times, he might be stripped of the title. And Jake Shields would fight the winner between (Yushin) Okami and (Jon) Fitch for the title, and I would suspend [Palhares].”
Palhares’ talent is unquestionable, but his status as a repeat offender is what made him a high-risk, high-reward target for WSOF. The 35-year-old lost his job in the UFC in 2013 after failing to release a leglock against Mike Pierce, drew a 90-day suspension in 2010 for a similar incident against Tomasz Drwal, and also tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone in 2012.
Palhares has shown flashes of that troubling trend in WSOF, but none more egregious than against Shields.
“I like Palhares, I think he’s a nice guy, but I think he has problems,” Abdel-Aziz said. “I think he has problems, and we had an amazing event, and he didn’t have to hold (the submission late). He didn’t have to hold at all because he won, he tapped him. Let him go. Let the guy go.”
Palhares’ penchant for dirty play wound up being a major component of the build-up to WSOF 22, and Shields was understandably furious in the aftermath of the event. He was transported to the hospital with his arm in sling and complaining of visions problems, though it was the latter issue that enraged him the most.
The eye gouging fouls arrived midway through the bout’s second round, when Shields was mounted on Palhares. Several gouges took place before referee Steve Mazzagatti intervened. Shields had been dominating the fight up to that point, and he told MMAFighting.com afterward that he was unable to clearly see out of both of his eyes by the time the third round started.
Adbel-Aziz was cageside and saw the eye gouges firsthand. He expects the Nevada Athletic Commission to take action against Palhares and also hopes they also take a second look at their decision to assign Mazzagatti to oversee such a potentially controversial fight.
“The Nevada Athletic Commission have to step up their game now,” Abdel-Aziz said. “Steve Mazzagatti, I tweeted a picture of me and him before the event. Everybody was on him waiting for him to ref the main event. I wanted to give this guy some slack and I tweeted a picture of me and him. To be honest with you, I thought he should’ve stopped the fight and taken a point from Rousimar Palhares. That’s what I thought. I’m not a ref, but I was watching and I saw, definitely, some eye gouging.”
Ultimately, Abdel-Aziz and the rest of WSOF’s officials will need to review the tape before making any decisions about Palhares’ future. Palhares denied any wrongdoing after the fight, but he’s done so in the past as well, and despite countless warnings and chances, he continues to abide by his old ways.
So if the footage looks as bad as Abdel-Aziz expects it to look, WSOF may be left with no other choice than to strip its champion of the title and suspend him.
“If I don’t do that, I wouldn’t be a martial artist,” Abdel-Aziz said. “Just because a guy is winning and he’s the champ? It wouldn’t be right .
“He should’ve let it go, and he didn’t. We’ll see what happens.”
LAS VEGAS — This time may have been one time too many for Rousimar Palhares. The reigning World Series of Fighting welterweight champion defended his belt Saturday night against Jake Shields with a brilliant third-round kimura at WSOF 22, but yet again found himself in hot water due to a series of eye gouges and a failure release his fight-winning submission in a timely manner.
When Palhares was signed to WSOF, he was done so on a zero-tolerance policy due to his notorious past. WSOF vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz told MMAFighting.com post-fight that he will need to re-watch tape of the controversies, but if he sees something that broke that policy, the punishments will be severe.
“You have to understand, I’m the guy who f**king stood up for him,” Abdel-Aziz said. “I don’t know if you remember or not, but I’m the guy who said, ‘you know what, I’m going to sign him.’ If I go back on tape and watch that f**king fight tomorrow, and if I see Palhares held too long, and did the eye poking a couple times, he might be stripped of the title. And Jake Shields would fight the winner between (Yushin) Okami and (Jon) Fitch for the title, and I would suspend [Palhares].”
Palhares’ talent is unquestionable, but his status as a repeat offender is what made him a high-risk, high-reward target for WSOF. The 35-year-old lost his job in the UFC in 2013 after failing to release a leglock against Mike Pierce, drew a 90-day suspension in 2010 for a similar incident against Tomasz Drwal, and also tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone in 2012.
Palhares has shown flashes of that troubling trend in WSOF, but none more egregious than against Shields.
“I like Palhares, I think he’s a nice guy, but I think he has problems,” Abdel-Aziz said. “I think he has problems, and we had an amazing event, and he didn’t have to hold (the submission late). He didn’t have to hold at all because he won, he tapped him. Let him go. Let the guy go.”
Palhares’ penchant for dirty play wound up being a major component of the build-up to WSOF 22, and Shields was understandably furious in the aftermath of the event. He was transported to the hospital with his arm in sling and complaining of visions problems, though it was the latter issue that enraged him the most.
The eye gouging fouls arrived midway through the bout’s second round, when Shields was mounted on Palhares. Several gouges took place before referee Steve Mazzagatti intervened. Shields had been dominating the fight up to that point, and he told MMAFighting.com afterward that he was unable to clearly see out of both of his eyes by the time the third round started.
Adbel-Aziz was cageside and saw the eye gouges firsthand. He expects the Nevada Athletic Commission to take action against Palhares and also hopes they also take a second look at their decision to assign Mazzagatti to oversee such a potentially controversial fight.
“The Nevada Athletic Commission have to step up their game now,” Abdel-Aziz said. “Steve Mazzagatti, I tweeted a picture of me and him before the event. Everybody was on him waiting for him to ref the main event. I wanted to give this guy some slack and I tweeted a picture of me and him. To be honest with you, I thought he should’ve stopped the fight and taken a point from Rousimar Palhares. That’s what I thought. I’m not a ref, but I was watching and I saw, definitely, some eye gouging.”
Ultimately, Abdel-Aziz and the rest of WSOF’s officials will need to review the tape before making any decisions about Palhares’ future. Palhares denied any wrongdoing after the fight, but he’s done so in the past as well, and despite countless warnings and chances, he continues to abide by his old ways.
So if the footage looks as bad as Abdel-Aziz expects it to look, WSOF may be left with no other choice than to strip its champion of the title and suspend him.
“If I don’t do that, I wouldn’t be a martial artist,” Abdel-Aziz said. “Just because a guy is winning and he’s the champ? It wouldn’t be right .
“He should’ve let it go, and he didn’t. We’ll see what happens.”
LAS VEGAS — Jake Shields knew what he was getting into when he signed up to fight Rousimar Palhares at World Series of Fighting 22, but what transpired Saturday night was even beyond what he could’ve imagined.
Palhares’ third-round submission of Shields wound up overshadowed by a myriad of controversial fouls, as the reigning WSOF welterweight champion not only cranked on his fight-ending submission for several seconds after Shields tapped, but also drew a warning from referee Steve Mazzagatti midway through the bout’s second round after engaging in what Shields called a series of blatant eye gouges.
“Over and over, he kept catching his thumb and digging it in both of my eyes. Over and over,” Shields told MMAFighting.com. “I kept telling Mazzagatti, ‘hey, look, the eye gouges.’ He wasn’t saying anything about it. It wasn’t once or twice. It was at least eight times. In over 40 fights, not one time has anyone ever done that to me. Those weren’t, like, semi-eyepokes. Those were blatant dig in and try to gouge.”
Shields was transported to the hospital in the aftermath of the bout due to concerns with his vision. His manager, Tareq Azim, told MMAFighting.com that Shields was unable to see clearly out of either eye entering the third round and was still complaining of blurred vision in the hours after the fight.
“I’m not taking anything from [Palhares’] win, but it’s just, what he did was absolutely blatant cheating,” Shields said.
“I told the ref over and over, I said ‘he’s poking me, he’s poking me.’ He just completely blatantly ignored me. I don’t know. I’ve gotta say, I know the guy has been bashed as a ref — I’ve never personally bashed him because I don’t watch enough — but I gotta say that’s the worst reffing I’ve ever had. He’s the worst ref I’ve ever seen. He’s a piece of s**t. Dana (White) is right about him. It was just blatant.”
Saturday’s incident isn’t the first time Palhares has drawn criticism for his in-cage tactics. The 35-year-old was suspended for 90 days in 2010 for cranking on a heel hook long after his UFC 111 opponent, Tomasz Drwal, tapped out of the fight. Two years later, Palhares tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, then in 2013 the Brazilian refused again to release a leglock submission despite the cries of pains from opponent Mike Pierce.
The Pierce episode resulted in Palhares’ unceremonious release from the UFC, but the issue of refusing to let go of submissions long after opponents have tapped is one that’s followed Palhares into his WSOF career. It reared it’s head again in the most egregious way against Shields, whose shoulder was in a sling after the fight.
“He cranked my shoulder longer than was necessary,” Shields said. “It definitely felt like he held it too long. But the eye gouges are what bothered me worse because that threw me out of my game. I shouldn’t have let it frustrate me, but it was really hard when I couldn’t see out of either eye going into the third round.”
Palhares, for his part, expressed innocence regarding both the shoulder crank and the eye gouges.
Both the Nevada Athletic Commission and WSOF management are expected to review the fight, and the punishment handed down could be severe if Palhares is found to have committed wrongdoing.
Yet even despite everything that happened, Shields would be more than willing to accept a rematch if it meant a chance at revenge.
“I would,” Shields said. “I hate this guy. I’ll be ready for the eye gouges this time. I knew he was a dirty cheater, but I wasn’t prepared for eye gouges.”
LAS VEGAS — Jake Shields knew what he was getting into when he signed up to fight Rousimar Palhares at World Series of Fighting 22, but what transpired Saturday night was even beyond what he could’ve imagined.
Palhares’ third-round submission of Shields wound up overshadowed by a myriad of controversial fouls, as the reigning WSOF welterweight champion not only cranked on his fight-ending submission for several seconds after Shields tapped, but also drew a warning from referee Steve Mazzagatti midway through the bout’s second round after engaging in what Shields called a series of blatant eye gouges.
“Over and over, he kept catching his thumb and digging it in both of my eyes. Over and over,” Shields told MMAFighting.com. “I kept telling Mazzagatti, ‘hey, look, the eye gouges.’ He wasn’t saying anything about it. It wasn’t once or twice. It was at least eight times. In over 40 fights, not one time has anyone ever done that to me. Those weren’t, like, semi-eyepokes. Those were blatant dig in and try to gouge.”
Shields was transported to the hospital in the aftermath of the bout due to concerns with his vision. His manager, Tareq Azim, told MMAFighting.com that Shields was unable to see clearly out of either eye entering the third round and was still complaining of blurred vision in the hours after the fight.
“I’m not taking anything from [Palhares’] win, but it’s just, what he did was absolutely blatant cheating,” Shields said.
“I told the ref over and over, I said ‘he’s poking me, he’s poking me.’ He just completely blatantly ignored me. I don’t know. I’ve gotta say, I know the guy has been bashed as a ref — I’ve never personally bashed him because I don’t watch enough — but I gotta say that’s the worst reffing I’ve ever had. He’s the worst ref I’ve ever seen. He’s a piece of s**t. Dana (White) is right about him. It was just blatant.”
Saturday’s incident isn’t the first time Palhares has drawn criticism for his in-cage tactics. The 35-year-old was suspended for 90 days in 2010 for cranking on a heel hook long after his UFC 111 opponent, Tomasz Drwal, tapped out of the fight. Two years later, Palhares tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, then in 2013 the Brazilian refused again to release a leglock submission despite the cries of pains from opponent Mike Pierce.
The Pierce episode resulted in Palhares’ unceremonious release from the UFC, but the issue of refusing to let go of submissions long after opponents have tapped is one that’s followed Palhares into his WSOF career. It reared it’s head again in the most egregious way against Shields, whose shoulder was in a sling after the fight.
“He cranked my shoulder longer than was necessary,” Shields said. “It definitely felt like he held it too long. But the eye gouges are what bothered me worse because that threw me out of my game. I shouldn’t have let it frustrate me, but it was really hard when I couldn’t see out of either eye going into the third round.”
Palhares, for his part, expressed innocence regarding both the shoulder crank and the eye gouges.
Both the Nevada Athletic Commission and WSOF management are expected to review the fight, and the punishment handed down could be severe if Palhares is found to have committed wrongdoing.
Yet even despite everything that happened, Shields would be more than willing to accept a rematch if it meant a chance at revenge.
“I would,” Shields said. “I hate this guy. I’ll be ready for the eye gouges this time. I knew he was a dirty cheater, but I wasn’t prepared for eye gouges.”
LAS VEGAS — Jake Shields knew what he was getting into when he signed up to fight Rousimar Palhares at World Series of Fighting 22, but what transpired Saturday night was even beyond what he could’ve imagined.
Palhares’ third-round submission of Shields wound up overshadowed by a myriad of controversial fouls, as the reigning WSOF welterweight champion not only cranked on his fight-ending submission for several seconds after Shields tapped, but also drew a warning from referee Steve Mazzagatti midway through the bout’s second round after engaging in what Shields called a series of blatant eye gouges.
“Over and over, he kept catching his thumb and digging it in both of my eyes. Over and over,” Shields told MMAFighting.com. “I kept telling Mazzagatti, ‘hey, look, the eye gouges.’ He wasn’t saying anything about it. It wasn’t once or twice. It was at least eight times. In over 40 fights, not one time has anyone ever done that to me. Those weren’t, like, semi-eyepokes. Those were blatant dig in and try to gouge.”
Shields was transported to the hospital in the aftermath of the bout due to concerns with his vision. His manager, Tareq Azim, told MMAFighting.com that Shields was unable to see clearly out of either eye entering the third round and was still complaining of blurred vision in the hours after the fight.
“I’m not taking anything from [Palhares’] win, but it’s just, what he did was absolutely blatant cheating,” Shields said.
“I told the ref over and over, I said ‘he’s poking me, he’s poking me.’ He just completely blatantly ignored me. I don’t know. I’ve gotta say, I know the guy has been bashed as a ref — I’ve never personally bashed him because I don’t watch enough — but I gotta say that’s the worst reffing I’ve ever had. He’s the worst ref I’ve ever seen. He’s a piece of s**t. Dana (White) is right about him. It was just blatant.”
Saturday’s incident isn’t the first time Palhares has drawn criticism for his in-cage tactics. The 35-year-old was suspended for 90 days in 2010 for cranking on a heel hook long after his UFC 111 opponent, Tomasz Drwal, tapped out of the fight. Two years later, Palhares tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, then in 2013 the Brazilian refused again to release a leglock submission despite the cries of pains from opponent Mike Pierce.
The Pierce episode resulted in Palhares’ unceremonious release from the UFC, but the issue of refusing to let go of submissions long after opponents have tapped is one that’s followed Palhares into his WSOF career. It reared it’s head again in the most egregious way against Shields, whose shoulder was in a sling after the fight.
“He cranked my shoulder longer than was necessary,” Shields said. “It definitely felt like he held it too long. But the eye gouges are what bothered me worse because that threw me out of my game. I shouldn’t have let it frustrate me, but it was really hard when I couldn’t see out of either eye going into the third round.”
Palhares, for his part, expressed innocence regarding both the shoulder crank and the eye gouges.
Both the Nevada Athletic Commission and WSOF management are expected to review the fight, and the punishment handed down could be severe if Palhares is found to have committed wrongdoing.
Yet even despite everything that happened, Shields would be more than willing to accept a rematch if it meant a chance at revenge.
“I would,” Shields said. “I hate this guy. I’ll be ready for the eye gouges this time. I knew he was a dirty cheater, but I wasn’t prepared for eye gouges.”
LAS VEGAS — Jake Shields knew what he was getting into when he signed up to fight Rousimar Palhares at World Series of Fighting 22, but what transpired Saturday night was even beyond what he could’ve imagined.
Palhares’ third-round submission of Shields wound up overshadowed by a myriad of controversial fouls, as the reigning WSOF welterweight champion not only cranked on his fight-ending submission for several seconds after Shields tapped, but also drew a warning from referee Steve Mazzagatti midway through the bout’s second round after engaging in what Shields called a series of blatant eye gouges.
“Over and over, he kept catching his thumb and digging it in both of my eyes. Over and over,” Shields told MMAFighting.com. “I kept telling Mazzagatti, ‘hey, look, the eye gouges.’ He wasn’t saying anything about it. It wasn’t once or twice. It was at least eight times. In over 40 fights, not one time has anyone ever done that to me. Those weren’t, like, semi-eyepokes. Those were blatant dig in and try to gouge.”
Shields was transported to the hospital in the aftermath of the bout due to concerns with his vision. His manager, Tareq Azim, told MMAFighting.com that Shields was unable to see clearly out of either eye entering the third round and was still complaining of blurred vision in the hours after the fight.
“I’m not taking anything from [Palhares’] win, but it’s just, what he did was absolutely blatant cheating,” Shields said.
“I told the ref over and over, I said ‘he’s poking me, he’s poking me.’ He just completely blatantly ignored me. I don’t know. I’ve gotta say, I know the guy has been bashed as a ref — I’ve never personally bashed him because I don’t watch enough — but I gotta say that’s the worst reffing I’ve ever had. He’s the worst ref I’ve ever seen. He’s a piece of s**t. Dana (White) is right about him. It was just blatant.”
Saturday’s incident isn’t the first time Palhares has drawn criticism for his in-cage tactics. The 35-year-old was suspended for 90 days in 2010 for cranking on a heel hook long after his UFC 111 opponent, Tomasz Drwal, tapped out of the fight. Two years later, Palhares tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, then in 2013 the Brazilian refused again to release a leglock submission despite the cries of pains from opponent Mike Pierce.
The Pierce episode resulted in Palhares’ unceremonious release from the UFC, but the issue of refusing to let go of submissions long after opponents have tapped is one that’s followed Palhares into his WSOF career. It reared it’s head again in the most egregious way against Shields, whose shoulder was in a sling after the fight.
“He cranked my shoulder longer than was necessary,” Shields said. “It definitely felt like he held it too long. But the eye gouges are what bothered me worse because that threw me out of my game. I shouldn’t have let it frustrate me, but it was really hard when I couldn’t see out of either eye going into the third round.”
Palhares, for his part, expressed innocence regarding both the shoulder crank and the eye gouges.
Both the Nevada Athletic Commission and WSOF management are expected to review the fight, and the punishment handed down could be severe if Palhares is found to have committed wrongdoing.
Yet even despite everything that happened, Shields would be more than willing to accept a rematch if it meant a chance at revenge.
“I would,” Shields said. “I hate this guy. I’ll be ready for the eye gouges this time. I knew he was a dirty cheater, but I wasn’t prepared for eye gouges.”
