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Jacare is heading back down to middleweight.
Ronaldo Souza’s stay at light heavyweight was evidently short-lived.
ESPN’s Marc Raimondi reported on Tuesday that verbal agreements are in place for “Jacare” to return to his more familiar middleweight to take on Uriah Hall at UFC 249 in Brooklyn, New York on April 18th.
Souza (26-8, 1 NC) is coming off consecutive losses to Jack Hermansson and Jan Blachowicz. The 40-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist moved up to 205 lbs for a headlining bout against Blachowicz, which proved to be an extremely lackluster fight resulting in a split decision defeat. His last win was a spectacular KO of Chris Weidman at UFC 230 in November of 2018.
While Souza is dealing with a losing streak, Hall (15-9) enters this matchup with consecutive wins over Bevon Lewis and Antonio Carlos Junior. Once considered a top prospect out of The Ultimate Fighter, Uriah has been inconsistent throughout his UFC career. The 35-year-old’s biggest win to date came four years ago against Gegard Mousasi, when he scored a shocking come-from-behind second-round TKO.
UFC 249 takes place at the Barclays Center on pay-per-view. The main event is slated to be a lightweight title fight between reigning champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.