This afternoon (Oct. 12, 2013), Rousimar Palhares released a video to apologize to fans and to explain what led to him holding onto the submission after Mike Pierce tapped out at UFC Fight Night 29 last Wednesday (Oct. 9, 2013) in Brazil. This ultimately resulted in him being released by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and suspended for 120 days by the Brazilian commission.
In the video above, Palhares explains that the referee was focused on getting Pierce to let go of the fence, which is "where the misunderstanding came from." He also claims he didn't know that Pierce had submitted as he was tapping on the referee's leg and not his own.
If I can opine for a second, this is probably the most insincere "apology" ever. He's trying to pass the blame from himself onto both Pierce and referee Keith Peterson. Not only is his timeline of events not accurate, they also fail to hold up due to his history of holding onto submissions.
Get the latest gear
