After finishing off his Strikeforce career in emphatic fashion Saturday night, middleweight jiu-jitsu ace Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza is setting his sights on the UFC’s 185-pound roster.
During Saturday night’s post-fight presser, the Brazilian star told MMA Junkie via an interpreter that “I believe I’m going to do pretty well there [in the UFC].”
If his final Strikeforce opponent, Ed Herman—a UFC fighter by trade—is any sort of measuring stick, it looks like Jacare will do considerably better than “pretty well.”
Indeed, with just one loss on his eight-fight Strikeforce record and the obliterating win over Herman, Souza looks very much like an immediate title player in his new home.
Of course, the level of competition he’ll face is set to spike, Herman being more representative of the division’s mid-tier rather than its upper echelon.
“There’s a lot of good opponents there [the UFC],” Souza notes. “But I’m going there to break some people down….I’ve got a lot of experience, I have great fights, and now I’m ready to go to the UFC and do my best”
Souza will make the exodus from the now-defunct Strikeforce promotion with expectations nearly as high as anyone making the jump. But whether or not that means he’s ready for the likes of Anderson Silva, or even the Michael Bispings, Chris Weidmans and Yushin Okamis of the division, is yet to be seen, and his progress is certainly worth monitoring.
Will he prove ready for the task at hand?
Well, the Brazilian himself notes, “I believe the time is just right.”
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