Mike Pierce talks Palhares: ‘There was no need to hold on that long, it was unnecessary’

By Evan Stoumbelis

Mike Pierce was riding a four fight win streak before getting caught in a deep heel hook by Rousimar ‘Toquinho’ Palhares that ultimately led to Toquinho receiving a lifetime ban from the UFC. Just 31 seconds into the fight Pierce tapped out to a deep heel hook, however Toquinho refused to let go and held onto the submission for another few seconds, as well as cranking the submission even more. As a result, the UFC stripped Palhares of his ‘Submission of the Night’ bonus, as well as his UFC career. Due to repeated acts of unsportsmanlike conduct Palhares was cut from the UFC as well as received a lifetime ban.

Pierce Spoke with The MMA Hour about Palhares as well as the incident.

“I felt it pop a couple of times, once in my ankle, and once in my knee, but the MRI is going to be the determining factor. I felt it [pop] after the ref was already on top of us and I was tapping the ref. So it was long after the fact.

I think it’s pretty clear, from almost everybody looking at it honestly, that he held onto it for too long. I have no problem submitting if I’m caught and there’s the potential of serious danger — that’s why I tapped to begin with, because I was caught and I wasn’t getting out of it. But to hold onto it to the extent that he did, there was no need for it. It was unnecessary. I was already giving up at that point, I knew I’d been caught.”

He got nailed for this in the UFC a couple of fights back. And even before the UFC there were problems with that in jiu-jitsu tournaments — and for Murilo Bustamante to come out and say it was a problem at American Top Team, there’s obviously a history of this guy holding onto leglocks and heel hooks much longer than he needed to. Whether it’s intentional or unintentional, it didn’t really matter.”

This is not the first time Palhares has done this. A similar situation happened at UFC 111 when Palhares sunk in a deep heel hook against Tomasz Drwal. Palhares also tested positive for elevated Testosterone levels after his loss to Hector Lombard in December of 2012.