Jake Shields had never tapped until Saturday night when he fought World Series of Fighting welterweight champion Rousimar Palhares at WSoF 22. Then he tapped more than anyone should have to.

Despite throwing a punch after tapping in retaliation for the slow release, it was the eye gouges that Shields is upset about.

I was catching his thumb, and he was digging in both my eyes, over and over, said Shields after the fight to Dann Stupp and George Garcia for MMAjunkie. I kept telling Mazzagatti, ‘Hey, look at the eye-gouges.’ And he wasn’t just saying anything about it.

It wasn’t once, twice. It was at least eight times. In over 40 fights, never once has anyone ever done that to me. These weren’t like semi-eye-pokes. They were blatant, trying to dig and gouge. … What he did was absolutely blatant cheating.

I would (like a rematch). I hate this guy. I’ll be ready for the eye-gouges this time. I knew he was a dirty cheater, but I wasn’t ready for eye-gouges.

When Palhares signed with WSOF, given his controversial history, he was on a zero-tolerance policy. WSOF vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz spoke with Shaun Al-Shatti for MMAFighting.com after the fight, and said he will review the tape, and if he sees egregious rule breaking, he may strip Palhares of his title.

“If I don’t do that, I wouldn’t be a martial artist,” said Abdel-Aziz. “Just because a guy is winning and he’s the champ? It wouldn’t be right .

“You have to understand, I’m the guy who f—ing stood up for him. I don’t know if you remember or not, but I’m the guy who said, ‘you know what, I’m going to sign him.’ If I go back on tape and watch that f—ing fight tomorrow, and if I see Palhares held too long, and did the eye poking a couple times, he might be stripped of the title. And Jake Shields would fight the winner between Okami and Fitch for the title, and I would suspend [Palhares].”

“I like Palhares, I think he’s a nice guy, but I think he has problems. I think he has problems, and we had an amazing event, and he didn’t have to hold (the submission late). He didn’t have to hold at all because he won, he tapped him. Let him go. Let the guy go.”

“The Nevada Athletic Commission have to step up their game. Steve Mazzagatti, I tweeted a picture of me and him before the event. Everybody was on him waiting for him to ref the main event. I wanted to give this guy some slack and I tweeted a picture of me and him. To be honest with you, I thought he should’ve stopped the fight and taken a point from Rousimar Palhares. That’s what I thought. I’m not a ref, but I was watching and I saw, definitely, some eye gouging.”

“He should’ve let it go, and he didn’t. We’ll see what happens.”

The Nevada Athletic Commission is holding Palhares’ win commission, pending a review.

Shields expanded on his remarks in an interview with Submission Radio.

What was going through Jake’s mind after the submission when he stood up.

Man I was just really pissed. The guy [Palhares] just gouged my eyes over and over, you know? I haven’t watched the fight yet, I’m not sure if it’s evident on TV, but this guy kept catching his thumb and digging it in my eyes and it’s 100 percent, absolutely deliberate. I’ve never in 40 fights and maybe 100 submission matches been gouged once. This guy did it over and over at least eight times. I kept telling Mazzagatti who was completely ignoring it and he just allowed this guy to blatantly cheat. And then on top of that, you know, he cranked the submission after I tapped. So it was just…..it was just really irritating.

On how badly the eye gouges affected Jake’s performance.

Yeah, I mean that’s why I was more mad about that than the late submission because I thought it affected my fight. It’s hard to say for sure. I hate being the guy making excuses, it’s not the way I am, but I mean I was winning the fight, and I go in the third round not being able to see good, and I just felt like I also let it get to me mentally, the fact that – I mean that’s my fault for letting it get to me mentally – but the fact that the ref was completely ignoring it. I’d tell him over and over and he did not care.

On if he’s surprised that Mazzagatti didn’t take a point for the eye gouges, and his thoughts on his refereeing as a whole.

Man I was absolutely astonished that he didn’t take a point. Honestly, I’ve never really taken an interest in Steve Mazzagatti. I know he has a terrible reputation as a ref but I’ve never like really paid attention to be honest. I didn’t know if it was deserved or not. But after today, I think the guy’s a joke and I’ll refuse to have him ref me again, especially ’cause I had some words with him at the end. There’s no way I’ll let the guy ref me. If you blatantly let a guy – a guy who’s known as a cheater – I mean I’ve never seen him gouge eyes before but he blatantly let a guy just put his thumbs in my eyes over and over. It wasn’t the kind if eye-gouge that you see when guys are throwing punches, he was taking hands and trying gouge me eyes out.

On Jake’s shoulder after Rousimar’s kimura.

Yeah I mean it’s really sore and It’s hard to say. It’s hard to tell with a shoulder – a shoulder and elbow – like how serious it is. I’m thinking I’ll be ok, but hopefully I’ll know in the next couple of days.

I’m a lot more irritated about the eye pokes but it’s still ridiculous that he clearly held a submission too long after I tapped.

On if he spoke to Ray Sefo or Ali Abdel-Aziz about the situation.

Yeah they say they blatantly saw the eye pokes as well. I mean they didn’t say what they were going to do, but they definitely were not happy. They were aware that he was cheating and they seemed very not happy. I mean I don’t blame them, they’re in a tricky situation. It’s their champ, you know, like what do you do? Do you strip him or not? I mean I don’t know. Personally, I probably would, but that’s…..you know, I respect both of them. That’s a decision they’re going to have to make.

On if Rousimar should be punished.

Yeah, you know, I think it was blatant. I think he should probably be suspended. Especially with his track record. I mean it’s not my place to say, that’s between the athletic commission and them. I don’t know, but I know if I was in charge I’d definitely suspend him.

On if Jake Shields wants an immediate rematch.

Yeah man, I want to fight the guy in the streets to be honest, ’cause I want to gouge his eyes back, I want to bite him, I want to kick him in the balls. I like actually wanna fight the guy. If I see him tonight I’m coming after him. Like I don’t like the guy. They’ve got rules and he’s not following the rules. I don’t know. I mean I’ll fight him again in a cage, but maybe I’ll stoop to his level if I have a s—ty ref.