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Rousimar Palhares lashes out at critics of kneebar over Jon Fitch at WSOF 16: "I didn't do anything wrong"
Dec 14, 2014 - 7:10:47 PM Rousimar Palhares lashes out at critics of kneebar over Jon Fitch at WSOF 16: "I didn't do anything wrong"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Rousimar Palhares is catching flak once again after his win over Jon Fitch on Saturday night at WSOF 16. The WSOF Welterweight Champion wound up in the organization after holding onto a submission too long in his final UFC bout, which led them to release him immediately, and on Saturday he did the same against Fitch.

However, Palhares doesn't think he did anything wrong, and in an interview with Guilherme Cruz at MMAFighting.com, he brushed off any criticisms from his performance on Saturday.

"I still have to deal with those critics, but I don't understand why people try to humiliate me like that," Palhares said. "I just go inside the cage to try to be the best I can be. I don't hold submissions."

"You can see fighters punching opponents two or three times after they are already knocked out. For an example, see for how long Ronda Rousey holds her armbars. I don't think she's wrong. In this sport, you won't survive if you don't lock the position really tight. I believe I did what I should have done to win. I didn't do anything wrong. They are just trying to humiliate me because I submit people, or for other reasons I don't know."

Penick's Analysis: What Palhares fails to grasp is he's lost the benefit of the doubt entirely. It's happened too many times. The referee last night physically had to pull his arm off after initially stepping in to signal it was over. Fitch was tapping furiously, and Palhares still held onto the hold. When he's already faced serious consequences for doing just that in the past, even if it's borderline, he's going to face rightful criticism, and I think last night was certainly worse than against Steve Carl, though perhaps just slightly less egregious than the Mike Pierce hold that sent him out of the UFC. Regardless, all criticism is valid, because it's happened time and again.