Rousimar Palhares Ignores NSAC Suspension and WSOF by Signing to Fight in Italy

You may be surprised to hear that Rousimar Palhares has signed a deal to fight for fledgling Italian MMA promotion Venator FC in May. The Nevada State Athletic Commission and [former?] contract-owners World Series of Fighting certainly are.

"Toquinho" was WSOF's welterweight champion until his title was stripped from him after the NSAC suspended the Brazilian submission specialist for two years. The commission deemed Palhares to have deliberately held onto his kimura submission for too long against Jake Shields at WSOF 22. Along with the suspension—due to expire on August 1, 2017—Toquinho was also fined $40,000 for his adjudged misdemeanor.

According to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting, Palhares remains a contracted fighter of WSOF despite the aforementioned title-stripping—and any fights for a different organisation is a violation of his contract which is something Toquinho's manager Alex Davis vehemently denies. That's not taking into account the fact that flagrantly flouting an NSAC suspension is career suicide if you want to ever compete in the United States again—the country where most of the MMA money resides.

The suspension was deemed a by-product of the negative reputation Toquinho had garnered for holding onto damaging heel hook submissions for too long after the fight had already been stopped by the referee. Palhares' first instance of this saw him earn a 90-day suspension by the New Jersey commission for failing to release his heel hook submission over Polish fighter Tomasz Drwal in a timely manner back in 2010. Toquinho then got his marching orders from the UFC for committing the same offence against American veteran Mike Pierce in 2013. That's not forgetting his failed drugs test in 2012.

This is the second controversial MMA figure signed by Venator FC in the last couple of months. It was revealed that infamous headline-maker Jason "Mayhem" Miller will be returning to the sport for the first time in almost four years in the very same May event—a move profusely defended by Venator's firebrand president Frank Merenda.

Merenda's defence of his decision to sign Miller to fight in Milan was based on the so-called double standards of people who have forgiven and forgot the misdemeanours of the likes of Tito Ortiz and Jon Jones. Merenda responded in a similar fashion this time around when the anticipated Palhares backlash had come to fruition.

The report states that WSOF president Ray Sefo doesn't expect Palhares to compete for Venator come May, citing it as a clear breach of his contract. But, it appears Merenda isn't too concerned with Sefo's statement.

Taking to the promotion's Facebook page, Merenda defiantly wrote: "Anyway, we don't give a fuck about WSOF. He will fight for us because we love him, Italian fans love him, he has a family and deserves to make a living. I'm sick with organizations that try to ruin other people's lives. Toquinho is a Venator FC fighter right now."

Slated to fight Norway's Emil Meek in May, it's unknown whether Palhares' return to MMA will come to fruition or not. But, Toquinho—who recently became a father for the first time—and his manager Davis appear set to ignore the cries of WSOF and the NSAC and make Merenda's dream a reality.