You have to be a little crazy to dominate inside the Octagon, there’s no denying that.
But the great fighters understand how to channel their energy and Rousimar Palhares has yet to comprehend this.
In his unanimous decision over Dan Miller on Saturday in UFC 134, Palhares, now 31 years of age and apparently not getting any wiser, gave MMA fans yet another bizarre outing in which his outlandish behavior inside the ring outtrumped the outcome.
With 44 seconds left in the first round on Saturday, Palhares exhibited his prowess inside the ring, pummeling Miller with nine shots as Miller appeared all but done. Then, inexplicably, despite the fact that referee Herb Dean hadn’t stopped the fight, he let up. In fact, he not only let up, he sprung off Miller and jumped on the cage as if he had just won the fight.
This, of course, allowed Miller to get up off the mat (while Dean was literally pulling Palhares off the cage), and proceed to land a left and score a takedown before the round ended.
This is nothing new for Palhares, who is seven fights into his UFC career. In his previous loss, against Nate Marquardt, he failed to realize Marquardt was pummeling him on the mat while he looked up and complained to the referee that Marquardt was too oily. Yes, too oily.
In his win against Tomasz Drwal last March, Palhares spoiled a good moment in his young UFC career by failing to let go of his submission upon the referee’s order. The action earned him a 90-day suspension by the N.J. Athletic Control Board.
Palhares is one of those sad cases right now because he’s undoubtedly setting himself up for disappointment against the top dogs of the UFC when he should be a legitimate rising fighter in mixed martial arts. He has supreme athletic ability, has great submission skills and can be a nightmare for his foes.
But he doesn’t think. He’s a headcase and it’s going to hurt him down the line.
What’s more, his foolishness in the first round on Saturday shows that he hasn’t learned from his suspension.
I like Palhares as a fighter based on his skills, but his head’s just not in the ring, and one can only hope he gets it together. Otherwise, he will never live up to his potential.
