Rousimar Palhares’ former coach Murilo Bustamante, head of the Brazilian Top Team, says he is not surprised about Palhares’ latest controversial incident in the UFC Octagon, nor that he has now been cut by the organization and banned for life.
Speaking to Fighters Only, the esteemed trainer and former UFC champion said that Palhares’ tendency to hurt his training partners was a large factor in their parting ways last year. Palhares is now with Team Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro.
“I wouldn’t normally say anything because usually what happens inside Brazilian Top Team stays inside Brazilian Top Team. But Rousimar has been talking a lot of bulls–t about my team so I feel I am free to say what I think as well,” Bustamante tells us.
“I can say this – nobody ever defended him as much as I did every time he made a mistake like this. In the beginning I thought it was because he was naive or had too much nervous energy during the fights.
“But then he caused a lot of incidents inside my academy during his camps and I changed my mind.
“I got tired of seeing how he hurts people so often when he is sparring, especially when he has a fight coming up. We used to argue every time it happened, so we argued a lot.
“That was a reason – together with his nonsense excuses every time he lost a fight – that our relationship started to get bitter.
“I actually hired a psychologist to help me with him but, as we have seen, it didn’t work.”
Palhares was released from his UFC contract after holding a heel-hook too long on Mike Pierce
