Igor Severino embraces UFC biting incident as a ‘brand’ instead of letting it ‘haunt’ him

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Igor Severino is looking to put a new spin on the lowest point of his professional career.

His UFC debut in March 2024 didn’t exactly go as planned, and it ended up making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Severino’s only flyweight fight in the promotion finished with him being disqualified in the second round after biting Andre Lima.

The Brazilian was soon released by the UFC. But while some, like Joe Rogan, went as far as comparing him to an animal, Severino has taken it a step further by embracing that label.

Igor Severino not shying away from how his UFC run ended

In the same year he left the UFC, Severino made his debut in European promotion OKTAGON, walking to the cage wearing a Hannibal Lecter-style mask. He told Bloody Elbow that while it was originally his team’s idea, he’s embraced it fully as a way to reshape the narrative around him.

Speaking to Bloody Elbow while wearing a t-shirt featuring his masked face, Severino explained that he wasn’t making light of the situation but also didn’t want to pretend it never happened.

“The bite incident is something that people will always link me to and they’ll always remember it but I have to turn it around and turn it into something positive,” he said.

“So, that’s something that we took into consideration, to not just shy away from that. Just embrace that it happened and make a brand off that, make something positive.

“I’m not mocking what I did but I’m turning it into something good. As it’s something that’s going to be haunting me for my career, why not make it part of me and make people start embracing that as well?”

After five straight cancellations in 2025 kept him out of action for over a year since his debut with OKTAGON – which had been one of only two MMA bouts since leaving UFC – Severino finally returns at OKTAGON 85 this Saturday.

This time around, he’ll be facing former PFL Europe champion Khurshed Kakhorov for the promotion’s vacant bantamweight title at Barclays Arena in Hamburg.