Luke Rockhold came out of Saturday night’s UFC on FOX 15 as he hot contender for Chris Weidman’s middleweight title. And it’s hard to fault the reasoning, given the way he dismantled former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida in the main event at Newark’s Prudential Center.
But Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza begs to differ with the consensus.
Souza ran his win streak to eight Saturday night with a first-round submission victory over late substitute Chris Camozzi, It was his seventh finish in that eight-fight run.
So “Jacare” believes that he, not Rockhold, deserves the winner of the UFC 187 showdown between Weidman and Vitor Belfort.
“Yes, I believe 100-percent it’s my time,” Souza said at the post-fight press conference. “I am the number one contender.”
Not only does Souza believe he earned the title shot, but he still believes he should have gotten the decision against Rockhold when Rockhold defeated Souza for the Strikeforce title in 2011.
“I fought Luke a long time ago, everybody knows he didn’t beat me. The judges (scored) the fight for him. I come to fight, I’m ready for the title. It is my fifth fight in the UFC. I can finish anybody in the division. It’s my time.”
UFC president Dana White was noncommittal on whether Souza or Rockhold would get the next middleweight title shot, saying only, “Its a good problem to have.”