Palhares vs. Shields - WSOF

[Arman Fathi]

Even though it was going on at the same time as the UFC event, this World Series of Fighting event had me livid. It's frustrating watching guys you're a fan of get screwed by incompetent reffing and dirty play. Palhares (Paul Harris) kept poking Jake's eyes out and if you find the post-fight pictures of Jake on social media, both of the muscles around his eyes are totally blown out. I will admit, from a purely jiu jitsu standpoint, that Paul Harris's kimura was slick. The way he got his left knee out from underneath Jake and used the leverage to get to the top has been a staple for some sweeps that I've learned, and from this match learning that the kimura could utilize that same principle. Obviously he's legit from a purely technical perspective, but he's not a sportsman. In all honesty, I don't think justice is served if this guy is allowed to fight another professional fight. Curious to see what other people think.

(sidenote: couldn't find an insertable link to view the video that was in English, my bad)

[Arman Fathi]

Full fight (in Portuguese, couldn't find English on Youtube). A great jiu jitsu battle overall.

[Royce Kim]

If Ray Sefo is a man of his word, Paul Harris should be given the boot.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/12/3...palhares-if-it

[Will Thaxton]

Honestly didn't think it was that long after ref got there. Without his history no one would Prob say much. Didn't Jake say he was gonna try to break something? Live and die by the sword.

[Brent Smith]

I'm more pissed about the eye gouges. The kimura was a touch long but mazaggatti should have been grabbing the kimura arm and pushing it in the opposite direction to relieve the pressure. Tapping on him to let go isn't so effective.

[Arman Fathi]

Honestly didn't think it was that long after ref got there. Without his history no one would Prob say much. Didn't Jake say he was gonna try to break something? Live and die by the sword.

I counted 4 taps after the point where 99.9% of people would have let go. In and of itself, I agree it probably wouldn't get him in hot water without his history. But the fact that he's notorious for this type of thing for sure creates a snowball. Jake's a pro. I think he was saying that stuff more to put it out there that there's no way in hell he's gonna take any aspect of this fight lightly.

I'm more pissed about the eye gouges. The kimura was a touch long but mazaggatti should have been grabbing the kimura arm and pushing it in the opposite direction to relieve the pressure. Tapping on him to let go isn't so effective.

What ticked me off about Mazagatti is that he was doing a poor job articulating to Palhares to stop eye-gouging. The portuguese/English barrier reared it's ugly head there. Palhares coulda easily just feigned not understanding, but either way coupled it with 50 cc's of not giving a shit. Jake was having his way on the ground otherwise, but couldn't keep the american jiu jitsu smash going cuz he kept getting clawed. It's disappointing.

[Will Thaxton]

Eye gouges should have been point penalty.

[rickdawson]

Paul Harris needs to get banned from MMA...

I must say that Kimura setup was slick as hell, but cranking on a Kimura for 5+ seconds after a tap can put someone out for 6 months.

[NotReady]

Paulhares clearly does not have the mental capacity to be allowed to compete in MMA. Remember his super strange fight with Marquardt where he basically let himself get TKO'd? That was right after the Drwal heel hook. Now this. Eye gouges are no joke. Have him fight Yvel or Gordeau if he insists on competing. That Belcher fight is a great re-watch after he pulls this kind of stuff.

[David Rosado]

Honestly didn't think it was that long after ref got there. Without his history no one would Prob say much. Didn't Jake say he was gonna try to break something? Live and die by the sword.

how long do you hold onto kimuras after someone taps? Have you ever been kicked out of a gym for constantly injuring people? I disagree. If no one knew who he was, I still think people would complain about how long he held it. He was tapped by the opponent, tapped and verbally informed by the ref, and even had his arms yanked to stop the sub. He let go when he wanted to let go. And that was well after Shields tapped. Unless you suck at jiu jitsu and don't know what a tap feels like, we all know what a tap feels like. And it's really not that hard to let go. Especially when a ref jumps in.

I'm more pissed about the eye gouges. The kimura was a touch long but mazaggatti should have been grabbing the kimura arm and pushing it in the opposite direction to relieve the pressure. Tapping on him to let go isn't so effective.

The equivalent to what you're saying is that refs should be holding guys' arms to stop them from punching. Should? Sure, why not. But it's not too common a practice because once a ref gets involved, fighters typically stop punching or cranking a sub. Palhares keeps going. That's the problem. If everyone is smart enough to stop hurting their opponent once the ref intervenes, and Palhares doesn't, then he is not safe enough to compete.


Does part of me want him to keep fighting because he's fun to watch? Of course. But he's a drop in a bucket. There are dozens of guys that are fun to watch too. Not just that, but any time he fights a top 10 guy, he loses. So it's not like we're missing the answer to whether or not he could ever become champ. He can...in WSOF. He can't in the UFC.