Andre Lima displays a bite mark on his arm after his flyweight fight against Igor Severino. Photo / Getty Images
Andre Lima displays a bite mark on his arm after his flyweight fight against Igor Severino. Photo / Getty Images
A UFC bout ended prematurely during the promotion’s fight night on Sunday after a fighter was disqualified for biting his opponent.
The flyweight fight between Brazilians Igor Severino and Andre Lima was called off midway through the second round and Lima was declared the winner after replays showed Severino sinking his teeth into the arm of his opponent.
It was a decision that could not be argued after Lima held his bicep up to the camera to reveal clear indents from teeth.
It was the first time a UFC fight has been disqualified for biting an opponent, and Severino will be cut from the promotion as a result.
It was confirmed on the broadcast UFC boss Dana White was going to give Lima some bonus money, and Lima later immortalised the moment by getting Severino’s bite marks tattooed on his skin.
It was just the second fight on the card and kicked the event off in bizarre fashion.
Later on the card, Kiwi heavyweight Justin Tafa suffered a setback as he fell to a unanimous decision loss to Karl Williams.
Karl Williams takes down Justin Tafa during their UFC fight. Photo / Getty Images
Stepping in as a short-notice replacement after his brother, Junior, got injured – ironically after stepping in to replace Justin on short notice – Justin had some good moments in the fight, but Williams capitalised on some mistakes he made.
In a classic bout of striker versus wrestler, it was wrestling that came up trumps. The Brisbane-based Tafa has made a name for himself a hard hitter and hurt Williams throughout the fight, with his best moment coming early in the third round as he had Williams scrambling to get a takedown after Tafa landed some solid shots with his hands.
But while Tafa was able to shake off Williams’ initial attempts, he attempted a head kick against his taller opponent, which presented the perfect opportunity for Williams to take the fight into his world.
It was a similar case in the first round as an attempted kick by Tafa saw Williams score a takedown. While Williams didn’t do a whole lot with his takedowns, control time was enough for him to get the nod with all three judges; one giving him all three rounds, while the other two scored it 2-1 in his favour.
It’s a setback for Tafa, who was scheduled to get a shot at cracking the top 15 for the first time last month against Marcos Rogerio de Lima but got injured just days out from the fight. His brother took the fight instead, ultimately suffering a second-round TKO loss due to leg kicks.
With the loss to the unranked Williams, Tafa will now have work to do to earn another shot at the rankings.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
