Alan Belcher Somehow Believes He's Going to Submit Rousimar Palhares

Your unintentional comedy of the day comes from UFC middleweight Alan Belcher, who told CouchFighter that he may have a unique game plan heading into his UFC on FOX 3 fight with Rousimar Palhares:

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I feel honored the UFC family wanted me to be on [the FOX] card and believed in my abilities and show the fans that I'm gonna be a champ. I'm one of the top contenders and I'm ready to prove it. I'd be stupid to try and force a grappling match. I'm gonna use my strength, my strategy, not that I can't grapple, but he can't really strike that good. It's a huge advantage for me just by keeping it on the feet. He's gonna have to get me in one of those situations and I'm not gonna let that happen. Best of luck to him, I don't think he's gonna get a hold of me and do anything. I'm a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Some people might be surprised but I'll give him a nice little run on the ground and may submit him.

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I don't want to slander Belcher's ground skills. He's a very good ground fighter and has the submission chops to give just about anyone in the middleweight division a run for their money.

But Palhares, obviously, is not a run-of-the-mill ground fighter. Put simply, he's one of the very best in mixed martial arts, a wizard with leglocks and the kind of grip strength that allows him to grab onto you and never let go until he's ready to do so.

He's also one of the most vicious submission artists in the game. Look at the heel hook he applied to Tomasz Drwal back in 2010 for a perfect example. Not only did Palhares injure Drwal, but he refused to let go of the submission once Drwal tapped out. For that little transgression, Palhares was suspended for 90 days.

Let's hope, for his sake, that Belcher is kidding about giving Palhares a run for his money on the ground. If he insists on using that game plan, he's going to find himself in a world of hurt.