Rousimar Palhares has an issue with his loss to Emil Meek at Venator FC.
Paul Harris is widely considered to be one of the filthiest fighters in MMA history. The Brazilian submission specialist was booted out of the UFC for holding onto a heel-hook against Mike Pierce after the referee had stopped the fight, leaving Pierce with a sprained MCL and a torn ankle ligament.
His two most recent fights in the World Series of Fighting also ended in controversy. Whether or not he held onto the kneebar for too long against Jon Fitch is questionable, but his failure to let go of a kimura when the referee intervened in his title defence against Jake Shields saw him get stripped of his welterweight belt and suspended indefinitely.
Through it all, Palhares has maintained he has done nothing wrong in any of those fights, with his manager even claiming that his vile submissions are “a part of the sport“. For that reason, a lot of fans were only delighted to see Palhares suffer his first loss since 2012 via first-round knockout to a relatively unknown fighter Emil Meek in Venator FC at the weekend.
Remarkably, Palhares is playing the victim card for this one. He told MMA Fighting that he believes the strikes that finished the fight were illegal.
“What went wrong in the fight is that I was hit with illegal elbows in the back of the head and couldn’t see anything next.”
“When I was hit, I went out. I couldn’t even understand what happened. I kept asking my corners what happened, because I felt a strike in the back of my head and then I just saw the referee in front of me, and felt the pain in the back of my head. I was upset because I didn’t fight and they let him continue after the first strike in the back of the head. I wasn’t in the fight anymore after it.”
Looking at the replays of the finish, it appears as though the strikes landed to Palhares’ ear and the side of his head, which is completely legal.
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Palhares revealed that he was sent to a hospital in Milan for an MRI after the fight, which is standard practice when a fighter gets knocked out. He stayed there for 12 hours before being let go and was advised to do another MRI in Brazil.
“I’m not 100 percent yet. Let me get the MRI done first. I don’t want to cause harm to anyone, I just want to be healthy. I was afraid, but I know I can walk now. It would be devastating to become paralyzed because of an infraction like that. I feel dizzy sometimes, but I’m happy I’m walking. I’m afraid of this MRI results. About getting the fight overturned, honestly, I’m not worried right now. I just want to be as healthy as I was when I got there. We’ll think about it later.”
“I will only know my next step after I get the MRI done because sometimes I feel I’m going to black out. I feel dizzy when I look down. I’m not used to getting hit in the back of the head. I don’t blame the guy that fought me, but the referee shouldn’t let it continue. I’m strong, you know, and I still went out. Imagine if it’s someone else, someone not well prepared as I am? People could die.”
