The last time Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (24-5, 1 no-Contest) and Derek Brunson (18-5) met in the cage, they were both competing for the Strikeforce promotion more than five years ago.
The rematch will finally take place this Saturday in Charlotte at UFC on FOX 27, with Souza listed as a -145 favorite (wager $145 to win $100) to beat Brunson for a second time at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.
Souza scored a first-round knockout of Brunson the first time they squared off in San Diego on August 18, 2012. They were the co-main event on a card that saw Ronda Rousey defend her Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title for the first time against Sarah Kaufman in the main event.
That was part of an eight-fight winning streak for Jacare, who has dropped two of his last four, including a second-round TKO loss to middleweight champion Robert Whittaker via head kick and punches April 15, 2017.
Brunson is a consensus +125 underdog, but riding a two-bout winning streak since losing two in a row to Anderson Silva and Whittaker in a Fight of the Night performance. He earned a Performance of the Night bonus for his first-round KO of Lyoto Machida in his most recent fight at UFC Fight Night 119 October 28 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Before the featured middleweight matchup takes place, a pair of featherweights will battle in the co-main event when Dennis Bermudez (16-7) faces Andre Flli (17-5). Bermudez, a former finalist in The Ultimate Fighter, will be trying to break a two-bout skid as a solid -155 favorite after losing to Chan Sung Jung and Darren Elkins. He is just 2-4 in his last six fights following a seven-bout winning streak.
Meanwhile, Fili is a +135 underdog and has alternated wins and losses in his past nine appearances inside the Octagon, including a unanimous-decision win over Artem Lobov last time out. His previous three fights have all gone to the judges’ scorecards after each of his three prior to that ended inside the distance. Bermudez-Fili is another potential Fight of the Night contender with the two combining for five post-fight bonuses.
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