Flyweight Igor Severino was disqualified on his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut on Saturday after biting opponent Andre Lima during their Fight Night bout in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In the second round of the fight between the two Brazilians, Lima yelled and signalled for the referee to stop the bout. The 25-year-old held up his left arm to show the bite mark and officials reviewed the footage before making the decision to disqualify Severino.
UFC president Dana White later told combat sports website keviniole.com that Severino would be cut from the UFC.
“We were fighting well, and then at some point, for some reason, he decided to bite me,” Lima, speaking through a translator, told reporters after the fight. “I went down, and as I was getting up, I yelled because I felt sharp pain. I thought it was the fence at first. I thought ‘there was no way he would have bit me’, especially with the way the fight was going.”
Later on Saturday, Lima posted a picture of himself on Instagram with a new tattoo of the bite mark, which was reposted by White along with a promise of a $50,000 bonus.