VIDEO: Erberth Santos Starts Brawl, Banned by BJJ Stars
The main event match between Felipe Pena and Erberth Santos at BJJ Stars on Saturday night ended in especially exciting fashion as Santos left the match to attack someone in the crowd.
It all started after a sweep attempt may have injured Santos’s knee. Officials examined the knee, but Santos was more concerned with yelling at someone off the mat. Reports claim that Pena’s team was taunting Santos, shouting that he was faking the injury. Whether he was or was not, Santos jumped to his feet and rushed the crowd to attack Pena black belt Daniel Thebit.
From there, the night devolved into chaos. Much like the infamous Conor McGregor-Khabib Nurmagomedov brawl, some of the crowd attempted to break up the two, while some began their own fights. Santos was then seen sprinting across the mat to attack another individual. At this point, it erupted into utter madness, with calls for order falling on deaf ears.
MMAfighting.com spoke with BJJ Stars promoter Fernando Lopes, condemning Santos’s actions and banning him from future BJJ Stars competitions.
“He was provoked by someone in the crowd, who was cheering for Felipe or against him,” Lopes said to MMAFighting.com. “I’m a black belt for 21 years and an athlete has to be a black belt on and off the mat to deserve a black belt in my team.”
The previous fights saw Joao Gabriel Rocha defeat Marcus Almeida, Nicholas Mergali def. Leandro Lo, Roberto Godoi def. UFC vet Renato “Babalu” Sobral, and Marcus Barbosa def. Wellington Megaton.
