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The coronavirus pandemic forced Ronaldo Souza to adapt his training for his fight at UFC 249.
Seasoned middleweight veteran Ronaldo Souza might be used to training under some odd circumstances, but amid a global pandemic that forced people to stay home was definitely the first time in his career.
Just a few days away from his bout against Uriah Hall, ‘Jacare’ needed to improvise in order to get in shape and ready for the match. In an interview with Ag Fight, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt revealed that improvising a home gym and bringing his main coach over to live with him were the main changes he neded to make during those difficult times. Part of that home gym is said to involve his wife’s crossfit equipment.
“I did what everyone else did, I set up a home gym. I set it up in my garage, brought coaches over so he would not take the risk of getting infected out there. He was at a hotel, but when I saw the pandemic coming, I brought him and my training partner over to my home. We tried not to go out, we reduced our training partners by over 90%.”
“(Josuel) Distak and Rafael Lima are over here.”Souza continued. “Alan ‘Nuguette’ Patrick and Rodolfo Vieira live here (in Orlando) and come over to help me. For sure, the world is reinventing itself. We’ll have to make things happen. We’ll have to reinvent ourselves in these hard times.”
Currently on a two-fight losing skid, Souza (26-8-1 NC) dropped decisions to both Jan Blachowicz and Jack Hermansson, in April and November of 2019, respectively. Before that, the 40-year-old scored a knockout victory over former champion Chris Weidman, back in November 2018.
Now, Jacare is expected to take on Hall at UFC 249, on May 9, in Jacksonville, Florida. The card is scheduled to be headlined by an interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje.