UFC middleweight Alan Belcher wants another fight with Rousimar Palhares, but this time he wants it to take place on the mats inside of inside the Octagon.
In wake of the hulking Brazilian being cut from the UFC on Thursday for holding onto a heel hook at UFC Fight Night 29 well after the ref stopped the fight, Belcher took to Twitter to call out Palhares for one more scrap.
“I'd love to rematch toquino in @MetamorisPro and teach him a lesson. @RalekGracie @RenerGracie rt to make it happen,” he wrote Friday afternoon.
Metamorsis is a jiu-jitsu event pitting the world’s best grapplers against each other, run by Ralek and Rener from the famed Gracie family.
Two Metamorsis events have taken place in the past year or so.
Belcher fought Palhares under the UFC banner at UFC on FOX 3 in May, not only willingly taking the fight to the ground, but engaging in a leg lock battle with the heel hook specialist.
“The Talent” shocked the world and his Brazilian counterpart by fending off leg attacks on the ground before he finished off his opponent with punches and elbows on the ground.
Belcher looked like a dark horse contender in the UFC’s middleweight division at that point, racking up four wins in a row, but has since lost back-to-back fights to Yushin Okami and Michael Bisping.
Palhares made his welterweight debut against Pierce on Wednesday after dropping consecutive middleweight contests to Belcher and Hector Lombard.
“Toquinho” was handed his walking papers after committing the same offense in a three-year period under the UFC banner, and also tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone after his loss to Lombard at UFC on FX 6 in December.
Would Belcher, who is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, prove he is a true submission wizard on the mat or would Palhares ground game be too much to handle when no striking is involved?