Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight bruisers Ronaldo Souza and Jack Hermansson threw down last night (Sat., April 27, 2019) at UFC on ESPN+ 8 from inside BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida.
Despite entering this bout on the heels of perhaps the biggest victory of his entire career — a highlight reel knockout of Chris Weidman — it felt like Souza’s back was against the wall. The Brazilian has been working towards a UFC title shot for years now, and a win would finally promise him that opportunity.
Meanwhile, an injury to Yoel Romero created a main event opening, allowing the surging “Joker” to fill in and score his biggest match up to date. The pressure was on “Jacare” to be sure, but this was also a massive moment in Hermansson’s career, his first chance to prove himself elite.
Hermansson opened the fight with some decent low kicks before the two traded powerful right hands. Bouncing in-and-out, Hermansson did his best to avoid giving Souza a target. After a slow opening couple minutes, Souza grew more active, finding a home for his left hook to the body as he pursued the Swede.
Suddenly, a counter combination from Hermansson rocked Souza badly, sending the black belt falling into a takedown. Hermansson attempted to follow up with his favorite arm-across guillotine! It was seriously tight, but Souza showed his composure and expertise to calmly peel his way free of the choke.
The round finished with some clinch work, sealing it majorly in the favor of “The Joker.”
Souza calmed down a bit and stopped trying to murder Hermansson with each punch, resulting in a better landing percentage for the Brazilian. Hermansson switched it up with a well-timed takedown, landing in Souza’s full guard. Both men were conservative from this positioning: Hermansson calmly stayed in the guard and landed short blows, but he didn’t do anything particularly aggressive. Souza, meanwhile, didn’t really do much offensively, largely focusing on blocking his opponent’s strikes.
It was another successful five minutes for Hermansson.
The momentum shifted in a big way in the third round. 10 minutes of combat had slowed Hermansson’s feet, allowing Souza to find his range more effectively. Suddenly, Souza’s boxing strategy began to work. His left hook to the body began to find the target more and more often, causing Hermansson’s footwork to flatten even further. By the end of the round, Souza’s cross and overhand were landing to the head as well, sending Hermansson falling back into the fence off-balance.
“Jacare” needed that rally in a big way.
Hermansson was not about to allow it to continue though, as he went back on the offensive in the fourth. Immediately, Hermansson landed well, notably with a clean uppercut up the middle that wobbled the knees. Once Hermansson regained control of the range, he did not release it, maintaining a pretty absurd level of activity as he poked as “Jacare” with jabs constantly in between hard combinations of power shots. Souza still landed a few nice bombs, but he was badly out-worked in the fourth round.
In all likelihood, Souza needed a finish in the fifth.
To his credit, “Jacare” went after it. Despite obvious fatigue, Souza doubled down on his commitment to body shots, which against slowed his opponent’s feet and allowed some powerful right hands to land too. However, Hermansson continued sticking Souza with the jab all the while, and he did land a takedown in the final 30 seconds to guarantee that Souza would not pull off another come-from-behind knockout.
Hermansson pulled it off.
This was really brilliant work from the Swede, who did everything correctly. Establishing the jab and low kicks early proved pivotal, forcing Souza to advance. Souza only really knows how to advance behind loaded up punches, a habit that Hermansson proved well-equipped to counter.
Whenever the exchanges grew too wild, Hermansson trusted in his wrestling and submission defense. It was a risky play against the jiu-jitsu of “Jacare,” but it proved a wise move, as it allowed Hermansson to wear his foe down a bit more. As a result, Hermansson earned the victory and broke into the title mix.
This is a devastating loss for Ronaldo Souza. Faced with a difficult and active foe, Souza was flat. At times, he seemed a bit out of it in the Octagon — which, admittedly, could be a consequence of the early knockdown. However, Souza’s general strategy also seemed a bit off.
Why didn’t the jiu-jitsu master attempt any takedowns?
It was a confusing performance from the Brazilian, one that largely puts an end to his title dreams. All the same, it was a gutsy one, as Souza truly went after it and never stopped trying to turn things back to his favor.
Last night, Jack Hermansson upset his veteran foe to emerge as a title contender. Who should the Swedish athlete face next?
For complete UFC on ESPN+ 8 ‘Souza vs. Hermansson’ results and play-by-play, click HERE!