In Rousimar Palhares, does WSOF have a problem it can't afford to solve?

It’s almost as if Rousimar Palhares is competing with himself now, trying to break some personal record in the realm of controversy.

The way a brilliant actor eventually wants to direct, Palhares’ welterweight title bout against Jake Shields at WSOF 22 saw him looking for new ways to make a mockery of rules, as if he’d taken the whole cranking submissions thing as far as anyone possibly could, and therefore needed a new outlet for his ridiculousness.

Not that he’s stopped cranking on submissions, of course. Because when something is so ingrained in every fiber of your being, it’s not as if you can just turn it off. And for Palhares, maybe it just wouldn’t feel like fight night if he didn’t have to end it by defending his own actions.

He had more than usual to answer for after Saturday night’s NBCSN-televised fight at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. This time it wasn’t just his refusal to let go of submission holds in a timely fashion that threatened to overshadow his victory. This time Palhares also added a little mid-fight eye gouging, reaching up from the bottom position in mount to rake Shields’ eyes so obviously and egregiously that even notoriously ineffectual referee Steve Mazzagatti was compelled to say a few words in warning (watch the Palhares vs. Shields video highlights).

What Mazzagatti wasn’t prepared to do was take any meaningful action, however. Even with Shields (31-8-1) offering muffled complaints through the clawing hand of Palhares (18-6), the bout continued on unimpeded, with Palhares eventually rallying to snag a third-round submission victory via kimura.

Then, with both Shields and Mazzagatti urging Palhares to let go, he went ahead and gave it another crank or two. Because this is Rousimar freakin’ Palhares we’re talking about here. Because that’s just what he does.

How bad has this problem gotten? Consider the fact that Shields actually punched Palhares in the face after the fight – the kind of thing that can get you blackballed from other organizations – and still it’s Palhares we’re mad at.

Rousimar Palhares and Jake Shields

If you’ve been following this man’s career for any length of time, you already know what will happen next. The MMA community will shake its head at him and ask, with one stern voice, just what in the hell his problem is. Palhares and his people will respond with practiced indignation, as if they can’t understand why their guy keeps getting singled out.

And somehow, this man who has been fined and suspended and fired and vilified for doing the same thing over and over will continue to learn nothing at all from the experience. He won’t even admit that there’s anything to learn from. It’s a kind of willfully ignorant stubbornness that would be impressive if it weren’t so dumb.

For WSOF, it’s also a tricky situation. On one hand, Palhares clearly has a problem. Not only can he not seem to learn how to let go of a submission on time, which no other MMA fighter has ever had such a persistent problem with, but now he can’t even contain his antics to the few seconds after the fight has officially ended.

Digging around in Shields’ eyes was a new low for Palhares. It was a dirty tactic that demonstrated just how far he’s willing to bend the rules when he feels like he’s in trouble. Even without a larger context, it would have been bad. View it through the lens of his entire career in MMA, and it seems like a character flaw manifested in the dangerous acts of a desperate man.

At the same time, let’s not pretend like we’d be anywhere near this interested in Palhares if he weren’t such a fascinating case study in callous disregard. Even on a night when the UFC offered us Ronda Rousey, who’s nothing less than a cultural phenomenon at this point, this fight still felt like must-see TV specifically because of Palhares’ track record for disastrously poor sportsmanship.

He’s done this so many times, and been criticized so thoroughly for it, it almost seems impossible that he’d keep doing it. Then he does, and suddenly it seems just as impossible that he wouldn’t.

What is wrong with this person? Is he incapable of understanding the rules, or does he just not care? These are the questions we keep coming back in search of answers to.

There’s value in that for WSOF, however gross it may be to admit. For a promotion struggling to seem relevant in a crowded marketplace, the ongoing trainwreck of “Toquinho” probably feels like the kind of problem it can’t afford to solve. What are you supposed to do when the controversy is the appeal?

I’m not sure I have a good answer, but it does seem like the ballad of Rousimar Palhares is drifting toward farce. He’s so unrepentantly terrible that he’s sort of amazing. We can’t let him keep doing this, yet I’m not sure we really want him to stop.

That’s weird, when you think about it. Then again, thinking about it is one thing that Palhares himself doesn’t seem the least bit interested in doing.

For more on WSOF 22, check out the MMA Events section of the site.