Rousimar Palhares
Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares released a statement this Wednesday addressing the controversy involving his fight against Jake Shields at WSOF 22, last Saturday.
Initially declared the winner of the match by submission in the 3rd round, Rousimar had the welterweight belt stripped and has been suspended indefinitely by the promotion.
After reviewing the fight, a conclusion was made by the event that Toquinho eye-gouged Shields and delayed the release of the kimura lock on purpose after the opponent tapped.
Toquinho says in the statement that he is not and has never been a dirty fighter. He also says that what he consider lack of professionalism are the statements Shields made to the press before the fight saying he was going to seriously injury Palhares.
“In my opinion, my opponent was the one displaying no fair play when he punched me on purpose after the fight was over,” wrote Toquinho on his Facebook page.
The Brazilian fighter also tried to explain the accusations of eye-gouging.
“If my fingers hit his eyes, it was never on purpose. He also hit my eyes with his chin several times and that is part of the game. We were fighting for every inch of space out there. At no point during the match, Shields asked for medical treatment. If he had done that, the fight could have ended as a no contest.”
Palhares moved on to the most controversial moment of the fight, the alleged late release of the kimura lock.
“I’m not an evil person. If I was, I could have broken Shields’ arm. Only 1,06s after the referee made contact with me, I released the lock and went on to celebrate my victory. It’s clear in the video that I did not crank the lock further after the referee intervened. I just released the lock.”
Toquinho also said that the media needs a bad guy in every story.
“Some media outlets need a vilain. It could be the loudmouth or that person labeled as mean, evil, just like in the movies. I’m not that character. I’m merely a guy that loves Jiu-Jitsu. Unfortunately the fact that I don’t speak English prevents me from explaining my side of the story to deconstruct this image that in no way represents the values I hold dear.”
Finally, Toquinho said that he does not agree with the decision of stripping him from his belt, but accepts the sanction. He finishes the statement with a harsh message to Jake Shields.
“It’s not necessary to creat all this drama to get a rematch. I accept any challenge against you. This time, I won’t give you any chance to complain about anything. I’ll knock you out!”
Watch the controversial moment here.
