The bad news just keeps coming for Rousimar Palhares. A week after being cut by the UFC for refusing to release a heel hook that sprained opponent Mike Pierce’s MCL and tore a ligament in his ankle, rival promotion World Series of Fighting is now saying they’re not interested in signing Palhares.
Bellator has already come out and said they don’t want anything to do with Palhares who previously served a 90-day suspension for holding a submission too long against Tomas Drwal in 2010 and just came off a suspension for failing a post-fight urine test for elevated testosterone ratios.
WSOF president Ray Sefo spoke to MMA Weekly:
“His past is not good,” explained Sefo. “The team and I have talked about it. He needs to probably seek some sort of help or talk to somebody, a psychiatrist or whatever, that can help him get away from hurting fighters.
“Until he does that, we won’t look at signing him anytime soon or anything like that.”
Jon Fitch, possibly the biggest name fighter currently with the WSOF added:
“He would have to definitely prove that he is no longer out there trying to cripple people after the fight is over.
“For Palhares, it seems to be a recurring thing,” said Fitch. “It’s happened twice in the UFC, and in his grappling matches it’s happened a number of times.
“It’s just not what our sport is. I mean, we’re trying to beat each other up, but when somebody concedes and gives up, you don’t continue to crank on the submissions. You can end somebody’s career that way. It’s just uncalled for.”
Not sure what will be next for Palhares but a good first step would be for him to acknowledge that his problems are the result of his own actions and not some crazy misunderstanding.
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