Igor Severino returned to winning ways on Saturday night in a barn burner of a comeback fight after being sacked from the UFC.
The controversial fighter infamously bit Andre Lima at one of the UFC’s Apex shows back in March, causing a disqualification that cost him his octagon career. Now, after months out of action, he returned to the cage at Oktagon 65 in Prague tonight.
In a move up to bantamweight, he took a split decision victory against former champion Jonas Magard to put an end to a tumultuous few months. And he was emotional in the post-fight, claiming that there were fears his career was over after the stunt in Las Vegas.
Igor Severino bit Andre Lima to get fired from UFC
Back at UFC Vegas 89, an otherwise unremarkable prelim fight between unbeaten Dana White’s Contender Series alums Andre Lima and Igor Severino made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The second round was just minutes in before Severino appeared to bite his rival.
This caused the fight to end rather unceremoniously in the second round with Severino disqualified, and ultimately cost him his newly-minted UFC contract. During the post-fight interview, Lima showed off an almost perfect circle of teeth marks being shown on his arm as he raised it in victory.
Lima even attempted to help Severino get back into the octagon, offering a rematch after winning a $50,000 ‘Bite of the Night’ bonus for the result. However, it didn’t help Severino’s case as he was released and looked to be struggling to find movement in his career.
Igor Severino pays tribute to biting past in return with memorable battle at Oktagon 65
You could have been forgiven for thinking Severino’s fight tonight was a considerably bigger one than his outing under the sport’s main banner earlier this year. For one, he wasn’t fighting in the near-empty Apex, but instead walked out to around 20,000 fans at Prague’s O2 Arena.
And what a ring walk it was as he wore a Hannibal Lecter mask that paid tribute to his biting past. He had been joking about the incident during the build-up to his return, but insisted that it wouldn’t happen again as he took on former title holder Magarad.
Severino flew out of the traps to land a big shot early that rocked Magarad. But he was brought back down to earth with some major takedowns amongst his own efforts to find a finish with a guillotine and big shots on the feet.
Magarad had the most dominant round of the three in round two, but it wasn’t enough as he seemed to empty the tank. This allowed Severino back into the fight in the third, which he won on two scorecards in order to land the victory.
Igor Severino makes emotional speech after comeback win
After the fight, Severino immediately called for a shot at the Oktagon title, before letting fans know how difficult the last few months have been. He noted that many believed he wouldn’t be able to come back after the biting incident, but was overjoyed to return with a win.
“I love you Czech Republic,” he told the fans in English, before eventually moving to a translator. “I will be the champion of the bantamweight division, my next fight, title fight, anyone, no problem, I am ready, I’m going to smash through everyone in the bantamweight division.
“I’m very emotional because I had a very hard nine months and nobody trusted that I could come back after this. So I’m here now in Oktagon, my head is with Oktagon, I want this belt more than anyone and this will be my new home.”
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