Disgraced, Suspended UFC Fighter Leaning Into Evil Persona

Igor Severino was suspended for nine months and released by the UFC for biting his opponent, Andre Lima during a match in March. Severino was slammed in the media and in the court of public perception for his actions, and justifiably so.

Since all of the backlash began, Severino has decided to lean into the evil persona adopting the Hannibal Lecter mask worn by Sir Anthony Hopkins in the Silence of the Lambs movie.

For those who aren’t aware, Lecter, who was based on a real serial killer named Alfredo Ballí Treviño, is a cannibalistic serial killer in the film. The similarities in Severino’s name and the real-life killer’s makes it a little more odd.

According to Severino, “the bite became worldwide.” He’s now going to use the Lecter mask during his walk to the cage for his upcoming fight at OKTAGON 65 on December 29 in Prague.

“It was a worldwide mess, right?,” Severino said through a translation of his comments, per MMA Fighting and Guillermo Cruz. “It kind of caught the attention of an information channel that didn’t even talk about fights and they talked about it. And now I’m using it to my advantage. Because people said, ‘oh right from the beginning I wanted me to do something involving this’ but I I thought it was very recent. Man, I was going to wait for it to pass. I took the mask. I took a wave. I made a joke about whether I’m going to bite or not. But that’s just a joke. That’s not going to happen again. I intend to go in with the mask of .like this more for the show. But I don’t intend to take that nickname for myself because there are a lot of athletes with that nickname. It’s very normal to see guys with it, So I want In the future to take something that will be just mine. So you know, I still don’t know for sure, but I’m going to go in with the mask to take my walk.”

I’m all for making lemonade out of lemons, but this flip seems a little weird. One MMA fan said to me, “this is a blueprint for how to not get your job back.”

I quickly replied, ‘the UFC doesn’t abide by those kinds of rules.’ If Severino can get over with his gimmick, draw attention, generate a following–and most importantly–win, he’ll make it back to the UFC.

Let’s not forgot, Severino earned his spot on the UFC’s roster with a crushing KO of Jhonata Silva on the Contender Series in September 2023. The bite fight with Lima was his first bout as a part of the UFC’s main roster.

Severino is still just 21. People make mistakes. Young people tend to make more.

We get punished for our missteps and hopefully get an opportunity to prove we’ve changed. If Severino makes it back to the UFC, that’ll be his second chance.

Severino will face Jonas Mågård in his first opportunity and you can purchase the event here. If you’re like me and starving for MMA action with the UFC gone for three weeks, you might consider taking a peak.