It only made sense for the UFC to serve Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza a second serving of Chris Camozzi. Whether for Camozzi or some other unfortunate soul, alligator grub was on the menu.
Souza was treated to some fine dining in his spur-of-the-moment middleweight tilt on Saturday’s UFC on Fox 15 fight card. Camozzi, a last minute replacement for the injured Yoel Romero, double dipped in his bid to end Souza’s UFC title run.
He was defeated soundly by the Brazilian in their first encounter, quickly succumbing to an arm-triangle choke in the first round. One Souza encounter is enough for most fighters, but Camozzi refused to let a single bad outing delay his UFC return. So he jumped at the opportunity to fill in for Romero against one of the most dangerous middleweights in the world.
It takes a cold heart not to admire that type of gumption, however long the odds may be. But unfortunately for Camozzi, the rematch played out like a performance taken directly from a script. There were no surprise acts or deviations from the original material. Souza did exactly what fans expected him to do.
It was more of the same with Souza sizing Camozzi up on the feet before taking the fight to the ground and locking up a submission.
This time, he finished the bout with an armbar at 2:33 of the first round, securing his spot atop the contenders’ column and possibly earning a shot at UFC gold.
UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is currently slated to defend his title on May 23 against Vitor Belfort. In all likelihood, Souza is the next man up, but there is a chance the bout could go to Luke Rockhold after his dominant win over Lyoto Machida in the main event.
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.
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