Ex-coach says Palhares consistently hurt sparring partners

No good news for Rousimar Palhares. The former UFC Welterweight was cut from the organization for refusing to release a submission on Mike Pierce…

By: Nate Wilcox | 10 years ago
Ex-coach says Palhares consistently hurt sparring partners
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

No good news for Rousimar Palhares. The former UFC Welterweight was cut from the organization for refusing to release a submission on Mike Pierce at UFC Fight Night 29 this past Wednesday in Brazil. He’s also been hit with a 120 day suspension from Brazil’s CABMMA. Meanwhile Pierce is medically suspended for 6 months following the heel hook that Palhares wouldn’t release.

Now Palhares’ ex-coach Murilo Bustamante of the Brazilian Top Team is speaking out about Palhares and it ain’t good, via Fighters Only:

“I can say this – nobody ever defended him as much as I did every time he made a mistake like this. In the beginning I thought it was because he was naive or had too much nervous energy during the fights.

“But then he caused a lot of incidents inside my academy during his camps and I changed my mind. I got tired of seeing how he hurts people so often when he is sparring, especially when he has a fight coming up. We used to argue every time it happened, so we argued a lot.

“That was a reason – together with his nonsense excuses every time he lost a fight – that our relationship started to get bitter. I actually hired a psychologist to help me with him but, as we have seen, it didn’t work.”

Now with Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney saying they won’t sign Palhares, it’s hard to see where the troubled submission specialist goes from here.

SBN coverage of UFC Fight Night 29: Maia vs. Shields

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About the author
Nate Wilcox
Nate Wilcox

Nate Wilcox is the founding editor of BloodyElbow.com. As such he has hired every editor and writer to work for the site. Wilcox’s writing for BE is known for its emphasis on MMA history, the evolution of fighting techniques and strong opinions. Wilcox developed the SBN MMA consensus rankings which were featured in USA Today from 2009 to 2011. Before founding BE, Wilcox was a political operative working for such figures as Senators John Kerry and Mark Warner and an early political blogger. He is the co-author of Netroots Rising, a history of the political blogosphere from 2003 to 2007. Wilcox also hosts the Let It Roll podcast on music history for the Pantheon Podcast Network.

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