WSOF 16 results recap: Palhares taps Fitch to retain welterweight title, Palmer subs Glenn to capture featherweight gold

Rousimar Palhares has taken yet another fighter's leg home for a trophy in his career.

At World Series of Fighting (WSOF) 16, which took place last Sat. night (Dec. 13, 2014) in Sacramento, Calif., the leg-lock assassin added the newest one to his mantle by submitting Jon FItch via kneebar in the first round of their main event to retain the WSOF welterweight title.

See the painful GIF here.

Fitch last fought for a title in 2008 against Georges St.Pierre at UFC 87, losing by unanimous decision. Last night, over six years later, the veteran would be the bridesmaid once again after the title fight concluded at the McClellan Conference Center in "Sac-Town."

Fitch landed a couple of nice punches at the start of the fight, but "Toquinho" would get Fitch to the ground with a single-leg takedown and immediately attack the former UFC welterweight's left leg with a heel hook attempt. Fitch hung in for a bit, but once he tried to roll out, Palhares switched to a kneebar and that was all she wrote. Fitch tapped and was writhing in pain.

Referee Edward Collantes stepped in to call it off at the 1:30 mark of the opening round.

Palhares is now 2-0 in WSOF and the kneebar win over Fitch was his 14th career submission and 12th by way of leg-lock. The Brazilian is now 18-6 overall. The hulking submission specialist has now won both of his WSOF title fights in 2:39. He submitted Steve Carl at WSOF 9 by inverted heel hook in 1:09.

Fitch falls to 26-8-1 (1) in his second career title-fight loss and is now 2-2 in WSOF. The loss to Palhares is his first defeat by leg lock in his 12-year career.

In the co-main event, Lance "The Party" Palmer became the third WSOF featherweight champion in the promotion's short history by submitting Rick Glenn in the third round of their five-round title fight. This was Palmer's second title fight.

He lost to Georgi Karakhanyan in the inaugural WSOF featherweight title fight last December at WSOF 7 by guillotine choke.

Palmer and Glenn stood for almost the entire first frame, until the Team Alpha Male fighter secured a takedown with about 30 seconds left. The featherweight champ would return to his feet and Palmer would land a couple of punches before the horn sounded.

Palmer came out fast in the second and connected with a flurry of punches and kicks that had Glenn reeling, but Glenn would regain composure. Palmer then landed a takedown soon after and started employing ground and pound for a good portion of the round. The champ would return to his feet, and Palmer took his back but was unable to land another takedown.

In the third round, "The Party" showed his Ohio State, All-American wrestling prowess by landing a huge takedown and slamming the champion to the canvas. He then transitioned to Glenn's back and began landing huge punches. When Glenn tried to turn out, Palmer snatched his neck and the featherweight belt by rear-naked choke at the 3:09 mark of the third.

"This is the first fight where I could really throw everything that I've been working the past three and a half years," Palmer told Joey Varner in the post-fight interview. "I've been really tentative with everything leading up to this the past few fights. Today I laid it all on the line. You win or you lose, so why not go out there and have a spectacular performance and do what you love."

Sheymon Da Silva Moraes defeated Gabriel Solorio by split decision in a bantamweight bout (29-28, 28-29, 30-27). With the win in his U.S. debut, the Brazilian improves to 7-0, while Solorio falls to 11-8.

In the first fight on the main card, Josh Berkovic defeated Brenson Hansen by unanimous decision in a featherweight contest to remain undefeated and improve to 6-0.

For complete WSOF 16 results and live play-by-play click here.