WE’RE BIG FANS of Joe Lauzon — who isn’t? — so we didn’t need another reason to admire the UFC lightweight… but he’s gone to the trouble of giving us one anyway.
As we reported on Sunday, Rousimar Palhares caused some controversy again over the weekend when he appeared to crank on another submission hold for a little too long after his fight with Jake Shields at WSOF 22 had been stopped by the referee.
It’s something Palhares has been accused of on several occasions in the past and it even resulted in the Brazilian welterweight being cut by the UFC in 2013.
Many of Palhares’ fellow professionals have subsequently criticised him and Lauzon is the latest to do so, taking to Facebook to post a video in which he describes Palhares as “kind of a dick”.
Lauzon includes clips of his own submissions, followed by a few from Palhares, to illustrate how the Brazilian holds on for five times longer than him when it comes to releasing holds.
In fact, Lauzon even went to opposing extremes in his last outing, stopping his fight against Takanori Gomi himself — which ended via TKO (punches) in the first round — when he determined that referee Herb Dean was slow to step in and prevent Gomi from taking any further punishment.
Regarding Palhares, Lauzon said: “Once the referee touches you, you should be ready to stop… it should be the happiest thing in the world for you because the fight is over, you’ve won. You let it go. There’s no need to do extra damage.
“You’re just kind of being a dick if you keep cranking. But he’s kind of a dick. He kind of cranks a little bit extra… pretty much every single time. He’s always cranking it hard.”
Lauzon added: “I think it’s pretty bad. I think he’s being dangerous. I love jiu-jitsu, I think it’s awesome, but for me the best thing about jiu-jitsu is the respect that’s shown; not being a dick about things, not cranking submissions. Beating people and giving them the chance to stop and tap before there’s real damage done.
“I don’t feel like he’s embracing jiu-jitsu like that. I don’t know what the deal is, but he’s kind of a dick.”
Originally published at 16.22
