KSW 39 was easily the most successful MMA event in Polish mixed martial arts history and it was the second highest attended MMA event of all time.
The show didn’t go without controversy, as UFC veteran Norman Parke says KSW Lightweight Champion Mateusz Gamrot bit him on purpose during their encounter.
“He shot in for a single leg, you know, and he was trying it a few times,” Parke said on Obviously Fight Talk. “So, he shot in for the single leg and I stayed heavy on it. And we were there for maybe 30 seconds a couple of times and I was threatening to go for a guillotine, but he was defending that pretty well. And then I thought I'd try and restrict his breathing, so I cupped my hand - you're allowed to do it - I cupped my hand and placed it over his mouth to try and lead him into letting me sneak into a guillotine or something. But, he just slipped the head inside, popped my finger in and bit pretty hard. And that's where it led from there. I kept gesturing to the ref to stop it. I said he bit me, but I don't think he was really listening to it at the start. Until I actually says ‘Look, look, look.’ And then he says time. But definitely he bit the finger, I know he did it on purpose. Because I says to him after the fight, I says to him, ‘You did that on purpose. You knew I was too heavy on top, you weren't gonna get me down.’ And he just said, ‘Ah, you're too strong.’ Never mentioned anything about biting my finger.”
Parke not only had his finger bitten at the event, but the UFC veteran also walked away without a title because the champion earned a decision win.
In the end, the UFC veteran wishes the champion would have gotten some kind of penalty for his illegal actions.
“No, it seemed like he just...” Parke said. “It was a quite weird situation. I showed him my finger and he could see the bite mark clearly. It was clear as day. And when I pushed him the crowd was, they booed. But when they realized, when they saw the replay, then they knew what happened. So I'm not too sure. There was a wee bit of confusion with the referee. And Martin, he come in and just said, ‘Calm down.’ But I says, ‘Here, what's gonna be done about this? He bit me, so it's like a straight disqualification or a point at least.’ That's the way it should have happened. It's not like there was no evidence there or no mark on the finger. The finger was there, the mark was there, and he intentionally did it. I believe that. We'll see what happens.”
Since his UFC release, the fighter has won two of three fights and that includes a win over Paul Redmond at BAMMA 28.
