UFC Mulls Future of Rousimar Palhares

By Brandon Boles
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: October 10, 2013

BARUERI, Brazil — In his fight against Mike Pierce at UFC Fight Night in Brazil Wednesday, Rousimar Palhares pulled off yet another leg lock submission, his second first round submission of 2013. Even more so, he pulled it off just 31 seconds into the round.

But the submission soon led to concern in the eyes of the UFC.

Multiple times, Pierce tapped out of the leg lock, but Palhares continued to hold onto the submission. As a result, the UFC decided against giving Palhares the Submission of the Night bonus due to unsportsmanlike conduct. Along with holding onto the bonus money, UFC President Dana White told MMAFighting.com after the fights that Palhares would be subject to additional punishment, but did not comment on the specifics.

This does not mark the first time Palhares has been in trouble due to his submissions. At UFC 111 in March 2010, Palhares pulled off a neck crank submission against Tomasz Drwal, but continued to hold on after Drwal tapped and referee Kevin Mulhall stopped the fight. The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board suspended Palhares 90 days for his conduct in that fight. In 2007, Palhares was also accused twice of doing the same thing.

White could be looking at his latest predicament of cutting a fighter from the UFC due to unsportsmanlike conduct. He famously fired Paul Daley immediately following his fight at UFC 113 with Josh Koscheck after Daley threw a sucker punch well after a round ended when Koscheck was heading to his corner.

With the history of Palhares holding onto submissions too long, and White appearing to have a short lease with fighters on misconduct in the octagon, time will tell if the UFC will cut the Brazilian submission specialist who has fought for the UFC the last five years or not. Should Palhares remain with the UFC, he may be on his final strike. Either way, a fight for him is not expected soon while the near future for Palhares is up in the air.

Follow Brandon Boles on Twitter: @BrandonBoles

Facebook.com/FullScaleSports

Twitter: @FullScaleSport

(Photo Credit: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)