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Felipe Dana/Associated Press

For a fighter, leg locks are one of the scariest things that can happen during an MMA bout. Sure, nobody has ever died from a toe hold or been knocked unconscious by an ankle lock, but there isn't a sports fan alive that doesn't know how devastating a knee injury is and how long its effects can linger.

These techniques are so destructive that, in many gyms, fighters don't drill them out of fear of tearing a ligament or popping a tendon. That would have made Rousimar Palhares, a submission specialist with a focus in kneebars and heel hooks, a terrifying fighter all on its own. Add to that a willingness to keep torquing even as an opponent taps and a referee tries to break his grip, though, and you get one of the dirtiest fighters of all time.

There are, quite frankly, too many examples of Palhares' extracurricular limb-twisting to pick from. UFC fans got their first taste of it in 2010, when he was suspended for 90 days for cranking Tomasz Drwal's leg. He was cut from the UFC three years later when he did the same thing to Mike Pierce. He went to World Series of Fighting not long after but was released after once again refusing to relinquish a hold in his fight against Jake Shields (this time with a side of eye-gouging).

As time went on, story after story and video after video came out of Palhares doing the same thing in regional-level MMA, BJJ competitions and even on unsuspecting training partners in the gym.

Palhares, for his part, has made a fool of himself at every single turn. In 2015 he was suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission for two years at a hearing that saw him condemned by his own surprise expert witness. He found work on the European circuit without much trouble but lost in his first right, and he made dubious complaints afterwards about illegal strikes from his opponent.

These days, he is competing in Russia's Fight Nights Global promotion. While he is yet to land in hot water overseas for this, he has spread his wings over the last year and found new ways to be the center of controversy.

-- Steven Rondina