Saturday night was certainly one to forget for Igor Severino.
The Brazilian faced the fellow undefeated Flyweight prospect Andre Lima in the second bout of the night at UFC Vegas 89. After dropping the first round, it was looking to be much the same in the second when, in a moment of madness, Severino decided to bite the bicep of Lima when he was caught in a headlock position.
It was initially unclear as to what had happened when Lima signalled to the referee to call a halt to the action, with the commentary booth trying to work out in real time just what was going on. However, this was quickly cleared up when the camera panned to Lima who lifted his arm to reveal extremely clear teeth marks sunk into and almost breaking the skin.
The second that became evident, referee Chris Tognoni was left with no option but to disqualify Severino immediately. It was far from a dream promotional debut for Severino, who had only signed with the UFC last year after a successful bout on the 2023 season of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Addressing the incident post-fight, Lima gave his side of the crazy few seconds at the end of the bout.
“So we were exchanging really well at that point and then he tried to take me down. I went down but then I got up and as I was getting up I yelled because I felt very sharp pain and I really thought that the fence had gotten into me. That was what I thought had happened. I started yelling like ‘Ow! Ow! Ow!’ and they started looking at me and I was like ‘listen, I don’t know what is happening here’ but I really thought it was the fence because I thought there was absolutely no way he would have bitten me. Especially with the way the fight was going, it was back and forth, it was good for him, it was good for me, it had a lot of potential to be the fight of then night.”
Before the severity of the bite was evident, the commentary team discussed if a stern warning and potential point deduction would’ve been an adequate way to deal with things. For Lima, he would’ve been more than happy to continue the fight as he could not see a route to victory for Severino at all. He said:
“I would have finished the fight because he didn’t have anything to offer. I was hitting him with significant strikes, he tried to have the takedowns and that wasn’t working then when he got to taking me down, I mean, he does not have as much jiu jitsu as I did. Did you see what happened when we were down on the ground? I tried to be more offensive and tried to finish him off more in the jiu jitsu when I was down there. Also, the elbows. The first round, I hit him and he got wobbly and I know he felt it too. Did you see when I basically opened him up with a couple of elbows, I would’ve done that in the third round as well. I would’ve opened his face completely with a bunch of elbows and that would’ve continued with a barrage of strikes and I would’ve finished him off because, I mean, he couldn’t take me down, he didn’t have his jiu jitsu when he did and he doesn’t have the striking with me. I have more boxing and kickboxing than he did.”
He was then asked what punishment he believed should be handed to Severino and took a very gracious approach and felt a stern talking to would’ve been suffice.
“I don’t think he should be cut or fired from the UFC because this is a young athlete, a good athlete, someone who is undefeated. The emotions may have got the better of him, the adrenaline might have gotten him. It is a whole new world inside the octagon, it is a different thing and I think he is an athlete that should stay in the UFC and I am sure being the great athlete that he is, being undefeated he will represent Brazil just as well as I am. I think he just needs a little talking to and nothing over that.”
He was then informed that UFC CEO Dana White had made the decision to cut Severino and it was apparent Lima was upset by the decision.
