Ronaldo Souza dominated Gegard Mousasi to win his fourth bout inside the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 50 in Connecticut, and he wasn’t expecting to finish Mousasi.
“I was waiting for a five-round fight,” Souza told MMAFighting.com. “I was ready for a tougher fight. I was training for a tougher fight. I wanted to submit him, of course, but I wasn’t expecting to submit him. I was expecting a tougher fight. He has a huge name, a great record, and he was coming off a big win over Mark Munoz, so I respected him a lot.”
Riding an impressive seven-fight winning streak with six stoppages, “Jacare” credits his team in Rio de Janeiro for his recent victories.
“I’m really happy with my performance. I think I had a good performance,” he said. “I was able to put on everything I trained with my coaches Josuel Distak, Rogerio Camoes and Pedro Rizzo, and I have to thank everyone who helped me at X-Gym. Everybody did their best to help me, and I everything happened as I expected.”
“Jacare” asked for a shot at the middleweight title following his win over Mousasi, and offered himself to be the ‘plan B’ in case Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort, scheduled for Dec. 6 at UFC 181, falls through.
“I want to fight the man who has the title,” he said. “My goal is to fight for the title. We’ll see what happens.
“The middleweight division is pretty deep, but I see myself ahead of everyone else right now. I’ve fought more than anyone, and I’ve earned a shot at the title. I’m ready to fight for the title. I’ve proved it.”