Sage Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Jacare Souza fell short in his 205-pound debut at UFC São Paulo, losing to Jan Blachowicz by split decision.
In an uneventful main event at UFC São Paulo, Jan Blachowicz spoiled Jacare Souza’s debut at 205-pounds by winning a split decision over the Brazilian (48-47, 48-47, 47-48).
What was the high point of the fight?
Jacare opened the fight aggressively on the feet trying to put Blachowicz’s back on the fence. Both men never landed anything significant on the feet early on, but Blachowicz was getting off more strikes despite the stalemate standing up.
Coming into the last round, the lack of action in the fight meant it could have been anyone’s to win, but Blachowicz steered the fight in his favour clearly hurting Jacare with an uppercut, but the Pole never followed up on the strike and the fight predictably went to a decision.
Where do both men go from here?
Despite the unconvincing win, in his post-fight interview Blachowicz called for a fight against the division’s champion Jon Jones next. Winning six of his last seven fights, it’s hard to see how Blachowicz would get the next shot at Jones over Dominick Reyes, who is quite clearly more worthy at a shot at the title.
It’s a disappointing loss for Jacare who is now 1-3 in his last four fights. He could of took some solace from the win if he was to perform better, but with a lacklustre performance from both men there isn’t much to take from this loss for the Brazilian. Jacare said he was ill leading up to the fight with Blachowicz and wasn’t feeling like himself in training camp.
Watch it now, later or never?
You’re not missing anything at all, there’s no need to watch it.