Following a fight filled with controversy at WSOF 22 this past Saturday in Las Vegas, a bout that resulted in Palhares being stripped of his WSOF title and “suspended indefinitely” by the promotion, the Brazilian submission specialist took some time to discuss the controversy, as well as to make a significant accusation against his opponent, Jake Shields.
“Jake Shields is unbelievable. He’s a total a–hole,” Palhares told MMAFighting.com. “I couldn’t believe someone could be such an a–hole. He has no respect for me, for the sport, for anyone. He’s dishonest. He had Vaseline all over his body, he was more slippery than a okra. I couldn’t grab a hold of him for nothing.”
Palhares continued, “I wasn’t mad at him before the fight, but the things that happened during the fight made me pissed. He’s calling me a dirty fighter, but he’s the one with Vaseline all over his body. That’s dirty. And he also threw things at me while I was talking to the media after the fight. I was upset with things he said before the fight, but I became pissed with everything that happened in the fight.
“He had so much Vaseline that I could barely stand back up after we went to the ground for the first time. I couldn’t event throw a kick or go for a takedown, I couldn’t hold him at all because he was too slippery.”
“I never gouged his eyes. I was pushing his face because he was hitting my eyes with his chin,” Palhares said. “He says his eyes were like that because I eye gouged him, but how about my kicks and punches? Is he crazy? I beat him up, tapped him, and he’s saying I did that because I eye gouged him? That’s pure crap.”
Check out the complete interview, where Palhares talks more about the eye gouging controversy, Shields’ being greased up, as well as the controversial fight-ending submission, by visiting MMAFighting.com.
