The Plight of a Dirty Fighter: Rousimar Palhares

World Series of Fighting took a leap. They gave a man a chance when every other promotion looked to distance itself from the middle-tier fighter quickly making a name as either, if not all, reckless; uncompassionate; and malicious. WSOF, a middle of the road promotion, had an idea that would not be out of the realm for the majority of smaller promotions to conceive of.

They thought, “Hey, let’s bring this guy in and give him a chance. He was rising up the ranks in the UFC and making a name for himself. Yes, some of it was for all the wrong reasons; but, the people surrounding him are saying he’s getting help and fixing his problem. He has name value and if we want this promotion to grow we need names with value. We need names that sell and people will tune in to see. It’s a gamble but he’s getting his problems taking care of. Why not take advantage of this opportunity to make some headlines?”

While, as it turns out, that leap was too big to land comfortably and Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares is too big of a gamble to be competing anywhere in mixed martial arts.

It’s a tragedy, a loss for Palhares as a human being, and a loss for the martial arts community. The Brazilian is a world class grappler who has excelled beyond excellence in the art, specifically, at one of the most dangerous aspects of the art, leg locks which includes his specialty, the heel hock. A submission well-known for the potential to destroy knees, it shreds ligaments including the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) which is serious if not career altering or ending. Worst yet the popping and shredding begin before the pain kicks in.

Yet, you don’t see many fighters getting hurt in this regard. At the end of the day it is a submission just like any other submission. Under normal conditions a fighter taps, a referee stops the fight, and the victor immediately lets go of the submission. In the instances a fighter is hurt or left unconscious, it is usually because said fighter refused to tap. But, as we know, this isn’t the case with Palhares. If Palhares grabs you in a submission, you better cross your fingers and hope he doesn’t cripple you or choke you unconscious.

He is a unique specimen. His physicality and submission knowledge combined with his physical and athletic attributes makes him capable of beating the elite. Fighters know what he will try to do and they train specifically to stop him. Yet, only a select few manage to stop Toquinho at what he does best.

That says a lot about the man as a professional fighter but he has managed to cast a heavy shadow over his positive marks. He’s become fearsome not for his world class grappling but for his reputation, in competition and training, of cranking on a submission well beyond necessity, well beyond an opponent’s frantic tapping, and well beyond a referee’s physical attempt to stop him. The clouds over Palhares grow darker when you consider he was eye gouging/racking Jake Shields throughout their fight at WSOF 222 in addition to cranking on a kimura past the stoppage.

For some reason Palhares has failed to correct himself, maybe he can’t. It is almost as if he forgets he is fighting for competition and not for life or death. Then, he tries to act like nothing happened, like it’s all good. He vehemently denies any wrong doing. He make excuses and yet it happens again and it will happen again without certainty because he has proven to be a repeat offender.

He has also had momentary lapses of reality during fights that make him come off as incoherent. Think back to his fight with Nate Marquardt and Dan Miller, for example. He has proven he is dangerous beyond control and his actions his past Saturday at WSOF 22 should be the last straw. The Brazilian is a liability. When a fighter steps into the cage or ring with Palhares, the risk of injury is beyond the normal circumstances in an MMA bout.

The man is not just a dirty fighter or cheater he is mentally inept to be a professional fighter at any level. There may be something deeper and darker hiding behind the curtain. Why does this man zone out to the point where he can’t “feel his opponent frantically tapping” or he can’t “feel the ref pulling him off?” Can it really be blamed on adrenaline? Does he really even zone out? By all accounts, he is one of the nicest fighters outside the cage but, inside, something changes and not for the better.

Toquinho is trained in the arts of subduing and injuring a person just like every professional MMA fighter, however, unlike the majority, he has issues controlling his art. He is dangerous and has not convinced us he is capable of controlling whatever it is that causes him to play dirty.

You could say he is a wasted talent and victim of his own undoing. But I think it goes beyond that. Palhares had a harsh upbringing in poverty and that possibly plays a role in the fighter he has become. He needs help differentiating what he is doing in the cage and that is help he will have to find outside of the sport. It is quite obvious he has trouble distinguishing combative competition from straight forward combat. If he is allowed to continue a professional fighting career in MMA it shouldn’t surprise anyone the day he seriously injures a fighter or ends said fighter’s career. He is unstable and there is no home for a man of that mentality in professional fighting.