Rousimar Palhares finally exhausted his reserve of plausible deniability last week when he gouged the eyes and overcranked the shoulder of Jake Shields at World Series of Fighting 22.
The stunts cost Palhares his WSOF welterweight title and earned him a suspension from both the promotion and the Nevada State Athletic Commission. A NSAC hearing on Palhares’ future is scheduled for September.
It was just the latest in a very long line of incidents with Palhares, mainly involving holding submission after an opponent has tapped out and the referee has intervened.
The whole thing got us to thinking. Where does Paul Harris, the meme-launching man, rank on the list of MMA‘s all-time dirtiest fighters? Forthwith, we researched, we recollected and we came up with this, the five dirtiest fighters in the history of our great sport. We’ve thrown in some honorable mentions as well.
They are ranked based on how dirty they were, how egregious their fouls have been and the frequency of those offenses. And we’re thinking only about inside-the-cage transgressions here, as opposed to out-of-competition offenses like performance-enhancing drug usage or run-ins with the law.
In other words, this list of dirty fighters takes the term fairly literally. These are guys who fight in a dirty fashion. So if you post a comment wondering about the absence of Vitor Belfort or “Lightning” Lee Murray, prepare to be ignored. Thank you for your understanding.