Rousimar Palhares is a tremendous fighter, but there always seems to be something goofy that arises during his fights.
Palhares dominated Dan Miller for 15 minutes, but nearly blew the match when he stopped fighting in the first round to prematurely celebrate what he thought was a victory via stoppage. Referee Herb Dean simply restarted the bout without docking Palhares any points and the Brazilian went on to post a unanimous decision victory, 30-25, 30-27, 29-27, at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro.
Palhares is now 5-2 in the UFC, but his fights have often been highlighted by an odd moment. One of the losses came against Nate Marquardt. Back at Ultimate Fight Night 22, Palhares was on the ground, stopped defending himself to tell the referee that Marquardt felt greasy and was the recipient of several finishing shots.
After UFC 111, he was suspended by the N.J. Athletic Control Board after he refused to acknowledge the referee during a submission stoppage against Tomasz Drwal. Before he entered the UFC, Palhares had several similar cases in Brazil where he held onto submissions for too long.
Tonight produced another interesting note on the Palhares' resume. With 44 seconds left in the first round, he crushed Miller with a head kick. The American fell to his back and covered up. Palhares pounded away with nine shots while Dean watched closely to see if Miller was finished. The ref never stopped the fight, but Palhares suddenly turned away, put his hands in the air and jumped on top of the cage to celebrate what he thought was a win. It confused Miller, who also thought the fight had been stopped and screamed out an expletive.
Dean grabbed Palhares off the cage and told him the fight was never stopped. Miller (13-6, 5-5 UFC) was fine. So much so that he quickly landed a left that locked up Palhares' body and the Brazilian fell to his back. Then Palhares recovered and eventually scored a big takedown with less than 10 seconds left in the round. As the horn sounded, Palhares landed a big right elbow and a left that appeared to come a little late.
Palhares sealed the victory in the second by gaining top control with 4:30 minutes left in the round. Miller never got back to his feet. Palhares stood over him and pounded away. On several occasions, Dean had to tell Miller that he would stop the fight if he didn't defend himself. Miller made it through, but the judges rewarded Palhares for the extremely dominant round.
In the third round, Palhares tired badly, but Miller was so beat up he couldn't take advantage of it.
The striking numbers told the story as Palhares outlanded Miller 104-56. According to Compustrike, 84 of the Palhares' shots were power strikes.
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