Every KSW show lately has the feel of a ‘tent-pole’ event, but even by those standards KSW 39 was something special. More than 50,000 fans packed Stadion PGE Narodowy for Colosseum, a massive event featuring 5 title bouts, a champion vs. champion catchweight bout, and a series of massive freak fights. One of those championships on the line featured a former UFC veteran, Norman Parke, facing off against Polish top prospect and lightweight belt-holder Mateusz Gamrot.

It was a big opportunity for Parke to pick up a notable win and to gain a title in one of the world’s largest MMA promotions. Unfortunately for him, things didn’t go down as planned. But he didn’t just walk away from the fight with a loss, he got a few tooth marks for his trouble as well.

Midway in the second round, with Gamrot shooting in on a single leg and Parke sprawling on top of him, Gamrot appeared to bite Parke’s finger. Parke complained to the referee, the fight was stopped momentarily, and then restarted. Parke eventually went on to lose a decision. The incident hasn’t sat well with Parke, however, who feels that Gamrot should have been penalized and that the foul was intentional.

“He shot in for a single leg, you know, and he was trying it a few times,” Parke explained, in an interview with Obviously Fight Talk, setting the scene for the incident. “So, he shot in for the single leg and I stayed heavy on it. And we were there for maybe 30 seconds a couple of times and I was threatening to go for a guillotine, but he was defending that pretty well. And then I thought I’d try and restrict his breathing, so I cupped my hand – you’re allowed to do it – I cupped my hand and placed it over his mouth to try and lead him into letting me sneak into a guillotine or something. But, he just slipped the head inside, popped my finger in and bit pretty hard. And that’s where it led from there.

“I kept gesturing to the ref to stop it. I said he bit me, but I don’t think he was really listening to it at the start. Until I actually says ‘Look, look, look.’ And then he says time. But definitely he bit the finger, I know he did it on purpose. Because I says to him after the fight, I says to him, ‘You did that on purpose. You knew I was too heavy on top, you weren’t gonna get me down.’ And he just said, ‘Ah, you’re too strong.’ Never mentioned anything about biting my finger.”

Asked about the referee’s actions, Parke isn’t exactly sure why more wasn’t done at the time.

“No, it seemed like he just…” Parke said. “It was a quite weird situation. I showed him my finger and he could see the bite mark clearly. It was clear as day. And when I pushed him the crowd was, they booed. But when they realized, when they saw the replay, then they knew what happened. So I’m not too sure. There was a wee bit of confusion with the referee. And Martin, he come in and just said, ‘Calm down.’ But I says, ‘Here, what’s gonna be done about this? He bit me, so it’s like a straight disqualification or a point at least.’ That’s the way it should have happened. It’s not like there was no evidence there or no mark on the finger. The finger was there, the mark was there, and he intentionally did it. I believe that. We’ll see what happens.”

Parke went on to explain that KSW is apparently reviewing the bout and but he’s not exactly sure where that process will lead. The loss breaks a two fight win streak for Parke, and is his first after being released from his UFC contract.