Mike Pierce vs. Rousimar Palhares
After all the controversy, UFC’s Mike Pierce finally addressed the heel hook that caused his defeat at UFC Fight Night 29 and Rousimar Palhares’ termination from the organization.
Pierce spoke with The MMA Hour about Palhares as well as the incident.
“I felt it pop a couple of times, once in my ankle, and once in my knee, but the MRI is going to be the determining factor. I felt it [pop] after the ref was already on top of us and I was tapping the ref. So it was long after the fact.
I think it’s pretty clear, from almost everybody looking at it honestly, that he held onto it for too long. I have no problem submitting if I’m caught and there’s the potential of serious danger — that’s why I tapped to begin with, because I was caught and I wasn’t getting out of it. But to hold onto it to the extent that he did, there was no need for it. It was unnecessary. I was already giving up at that point, I knew I’d been caught.”
He got nailed for this in the UFC a couple of fights back. And even before the UFC there were problems with that in jiu-jitsu tournaments — and for Murilo Bustamante to come out and say it was a problem at American Top Team, there’s obviously a history of this guy holding onto leglocks and heel hooks much longer than he needed to. Whether it’s intentional or unintentional, it didn’t really matter.”
