Rousimar Palhares enjoys his first birthday cake

Rousimar Palhares’ has an unfortunate reputation for holding submissions longer than necessary. However, past incidents becomes a little more understandable when fans learn about his past. Not everyone in MMA enjoyed a uniformly happy childhood, but Palhares’ was Dickensian.

The massive scar on his chest came when he was working in the fields as a child in his native Brazil and fell off a track, landing on the jutting stump of a severed banana tree. His family had no money for medical treatment, and closed the wound with scotch tape.

Now life is better, and Rousimar got his first birthday cake, at age 32.

“I was very surprised. I felt like a child because that was the first time I celebrate my birthday with a cake. I came from a poor family, and I thank all my friends from BTT for giving me this moment of happiness”.