Palhares: I didn’t do anything wrong
Rousimar Palhares: “In this sport, you won’t survive if you don’t lock the position really tight. I believe I did what I should have done to win.”
On Saturday night at the World Series of Fighting 16, Rousimar successfully defended his welterweight title, submitting Jon Fitch via knee bar. As Palhares applied the submission, Fitch tapped in agony and Palhares held the submission until the referee stepped in. Although the Palhares may have held the submission an extra couple seconds, he believes he did nothing wrong:
“I still have to deal with those critics, but I don’t understand why people try to humiliate me like that,” Palhares told MMAFighting.com of the claims that he held the submission too long. “I just go inside the cage to try to be the best I can be. I don’t hold submissions.”
“You can see fighters punching opponents two or three times after they are already knocked out,” he continued. “For an example, see for how long Ronda Rousey holds her armbars. I don’t think she’s wrong. In this sport, you won’t survive if you don’t lock the position really tight. I believe I did what I should have done to win. I didn’t do anything wrong. They are just trying to humiliate me because I submit people, or for other reasons I don’t know.”