Michael Bisping and Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith were left speechless after UFC newcomer Igor Severino bit his opponent, Andre Lima, during their preliminary-card contest inside The APEX on Saturday night.
Severino went into his promotional debut with a perfect 8-0 record and, by all accounts, looked great in his scrap with Lima at UFC Vegas 89. Severino was controlling the action up against the fence in the second round when out of nowhere, he bit his opponent’s left bicep, leaving a hellish-looking bite mark on Lima.
The Brazilian was promptly disqualified by referee Chris Tognoni. Not long after, UFC CEO Dana White revealed that Severino had been handed his UFC release.
“You gotta be a certain type of person to resort to biting someone. He wasn’t even getting his ass kicked. He wasn’t even getting choked out. You’re winning. You’re in the driver’s seat,” Bisping said during a recent episode of his Believe You Me podcast with Anthony Smith.
“If you think of gentlemanly conduct, like fair game in the boxing, in the jiu-jitsu world. They’ll fight with their fists and when someone hits the floor you don’t follow them down.”
“Who in their right minds, even on the streets in a street fight, unless you’re going to get murdered and then you do what you can. Unless the guy comes to your house and is really trying to do something bad then whatever you can find.
“If you’re getting into a one on one fight and you resort to biting the guy. I’m sorry. That’s disgusting. Utterly disgusting,” Bisping said.”
‘Lionheart’ shared his thoughts on the peculiar incident, echoing Bisping’s sentiment.
“I can’t compute that,” Smith added.”I’m speechless over here. I don’t understand it. You’re not losing. You’re not getting pummeled where you feel like you’ve got to go into fight-or-flight like you’re rocked and maybe you don’t know where you are and you just grab ahold of something and bite it. It was even weird how he did it, from the back of his arm. Nuzzled his nose in there like a puppy trying to cuddle and just bit the sh*t out of him. It’s so weird.”
Andre Lima picks up the win over Igor Severino due to a DQ from Severino, who bit Lima’s arm 😳 #UFCVegas89 pic.twitter.com/NQTJuSh9G3
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 23, 2024
Michael Bisping Questions Whether or Not Biting Inside the Octagon Could Be Considered Assault
In addition to blowing his opportunity to be a part of the UFC roster, Igor Severino will also walk away from the fight with nothing to show for it. Per a report from MMA Fighting, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has withheld Severino’s fight purse pending a formal review.
The NSAC did not disclose how much money Severino was scheduled to make, but the commission will likely take a big fat chunk out of it — if not all of it — following his unsportsmanlike antic. Severino could also face a potential suspension from the NSAC.
“At what point does that become assault?” Bisping questioned. “Just because you’re in a fight, we have a set of rules agreed upon by the athletic commission. Biting people never has [been], was, or is a part of that. It’s one step away from pulling out a baseball bat covered in barbed wire.”
Severino’s opponent, Andre Lima, moved to 8-0 in his mixed martial arts career and left Las Vegas with his purse and an extra $50,000 bonus after he hilariously tattooed the bite mark onto his arm hours after the incident.
Andre Lima, who got bit by Igor Severino, got the bite mark & Dana White’s “I Got Fu**ing Bit Bonus” quote tattooed where he got bit 😂💀
Dana: “I was going to give him $25,000. Now I’m giving him $50,000! This is awesome!” 💰 pic.twitter.com/36qf2DMb6Q
— Combat Buzz (@CombatBuzzX) March 24, 2024
Watch the full podcast episode below:
