Igor Severino had a disastrous debut with the UFC as he was disqualified for biting his opponent Andre Lima. Both fighters were undefeated Brazilians coming off victories at the Dana White Contender Series in 2023.
Dana White, the CEO of UFC, is known as a no-nonsense fight promoter and has always taken strict actions when fighters have engaged in questionable activities inside and outside the octagon. The UFC even stripped Jon Jones of the title for a hit-and-run case in Albuquerque.
Igor Severino disqualified from UFC Vegas 89 bout
Igor Severino bit Andre Lima’s left bicep in the second round of their bout at UFC Vegas 89. After consulting with officials via replay, referee Chris Tognoni stopped the fight and declared Lima the victor.
Severino had success in the first round of their bout, with one of the three judges scoring in his favor. However, Lima frustrated Severino with his submission attempts, leading Severino to bite Lima’s left biceps while in a clinch position at the cage.
There have been many high-profile DQ losses in UFC history. Jon Jones’ sole loss in MMA was via DQ due to an illegal elbow on Matt Hamill. Petr Yan lost the bantamweight title to Aljamain Sterling as he landed an illegal kick on Sterling, who was a grounded opponent.
More recently, Jarred Brooks lost his ONE Championship strawweight title to Joshua Pacio as he was disqualified due to an illegal slam. Interestingly, the slam would’ve been legal in the UFC. On the contrary, Yan’s knee on Sterling would’ve been legal at One Championship.
Dana White talks on UFC Vegas 89 bite incident
Dana White did not mince words when he came to know about the biting incident at UFC Vegas 89. White in his text message conversation with Kevin Iole revealed that Severino will be cut from the UFC.
“If you get frustrated and want out of the fight, there are plenty of ways to do it, but the worst thing you can do is bite your opponent,” said White, who went on to state that Severino will also have to deal with strict punishment from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) March 24, 2024
NSAC is very strict as evidenced by the $500,000 fine they enforced on Khabib Nurmagomedov for the post-fight melee at UFC 229 in addition to a 9-month suspension. Severino will not get a huge fine but will most likely get a lengthy suspension.
White had promised to give a bonus to Andre Lima for the damage he suffered. Lima went on to tattoo around the bite mark which made White increase the bonus he planned to give from $25k to 50k.
Do you think Igor Severino deserved the actions levied against him? Leave your thoughts below!
