#1 Rousimar Palhares
This brings us to the Undisputed king of dirty fighters, not only in UFC history, not only in combat sports history; but in the history of the entire sporting world. Rousimar Palhares is a BJJ wizard. His grappling techniques have seen him defeat several notable MMA fighters including great grapplers such as Jake Shields and Jon Fitch.
Palhares trained in BJJ from a very young age and reached the pinnacle of BJJ, taking the 2nd place in the 88 kg category at the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) in 2011. He is a great grappler with serviceable striking. However, he is also the butt of jokes for the MMA community owing to his pathetic habit of cranking on to submission holds way after the fight has been stopped.
At UFC 111 Palhares beat Tomasz Drwal by way of heel-hook. However, he was suspended for 90 days after he was caught cranking the submission way after his opponent tapped out. Palhares refused to let go of the heel-hook even after the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.
In December of 2012, Palhares lost his fight against Hector Lombard, and then it was revealed that he failed his drug test for the fight. Palhares received a nine-month retroactive suspension for his PED usage. Apart from these misgivings, Palhares submitted Mike Pierce at UFC Fight Night 29 via heel-hook.
However, once again he held on to the submission well after the fight had been stopped, thereby causing unnecessary harm to his opponent. The UFC then went on to release Palhares from the organization, stating that Palhares’ three strikes (against Drwal, the drug test failure in 2012 and his unethical behavior against Pierce) were responsible for his ousting.
Palhares, on his part, always claims to be innocent regardless of the intensity of the accusations against him and the gravity of the situation. He is extremely manipulative and almost always plays the ‘victim card’ even in cases where his lies are blatantly obvious.
Furthermore, Palhares went on to submit Jon Fitch and Jake Shields in World Series of Fighting (WSOF), once again holding on to his submissions way after the fights ended. His recent run outside the UFC is yet another example of his dirty tactics and unprofessional behavior.
After being declared as an outcast by several top MMA promotions in the US, Palhares now fights in other continents such as Asia and Europe. However, his terrible antics and bad sportsmanship are still a part of his otherwise decent MMA game.
MMA is a wonderful sport. It is, truly, one of the most pure forms of combat sport competition and a great test of one’s martial arts skills. However, fighters who resort to dirty tactics and questionable training strategies inside as well as outside the ring; unfairly endanger the lives of their opponents.
The eye pokes, the intentional groin shots, the mid-round corner trickery, the rampant usage of illegal steroids and PEDs, only serve to taint our beautiful sport. Aspiring fighters must understand these illustrations and strive to compete in a clean and sportsmanlike manner.
A dirty fighter’s questionable tricks may help him reach the top of the fight business, but like they say- what goes up comes down. The way down for such fighters is almost always terrible and serves as a come-uppance for their misdeeds.
Nevertheless, most of the aforementioned fighters are popular UFC personalities and loved by fans regardless of their tactics. That said, no amount fanfare would change the fact bad sportsmanship and dirty tactics will always be condemned in the world of sporting competition.
