Palhares may be stripped of WSOF title after dirty tactics against Shields

Rousimar Palhares is a dirty and dangerous man inside the cage, and it could cost him his World Series of Fighting (WSOF) welterweight title.

Infamous for wrenching limb-destroying submissions long after his opponents have already tapped, Palhares was at it again against Jake Shields at WSOF 22 on Saturday night, holding onto a fight-ending kimura for far too long.

Unsurprisingly, this wasn't the only incident that marred Palhares' win, as he appeared to intentionally gouge Shields' eyes multiple times during the fight, a serious foul that went virtually unpunished by referee Steve Mazzagatti.

A loose cannon, this latest incident could potentially cost Palhares the WSOF welterweight title, according to the promotion's vice president, Ali Abdel-Aziz.

"You have to understand, I'm the guy who f--king stood up for him," Abdel-Aziz told MMAFighting.com's Shaun Al-Shatti. "I don't know if you remember or not, but I'm the guy who said, 'You know what, I'm going to sign him.' If I go back on tape and watch that f--king fight tomorrow, and if I see Palhares held too long, and did the eye poking a couple times, he might be stripped of the title. And Jake Shields would fight the winner between (Yushin) Okami and (Jon) Fitch for the title, and I would suspend (Palhares)."

Palhares isn't the only man facing some serious heat for this debacle.

"The Nevada Athletic Commission have to step up their game now," Abdel-Aziz said. "Steve Mazzagatti, I tweeted a picture of me and him before the event. Everybody was on him waiting for him to ref the main event. I wanted to give this guy some slack and I tweeted a picture of me and him. To be honest with you, I thought he should've stopped the fight and taken a point from Rousimar Palhares. That's what I thought. I'm not a ref, but I was watching and I saw, definitely, some eye gouging."