Tag: jacare

Jacare Wasn’t Impressed With Israel Adesanya At UFC 230

Jacare was not impressed with “Style Bender’s” performance from Madison Square Garden.

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Israel Adesanya turned a lot of heads over the weekend (Sat. November 3, 2018) at Madison Square Garden.

“Style Bender” made easy work of Derek Brunson to open up the UFC 230 pay-per-view (PPV) card. The young striker established himself as a rising title contender at 185 pounds. However, he wasn’t the only middleweight who had a big night in New York.

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza also picked up an impressive victory of his own. The Brazilian knocked out Chris Weidman in the third round of their co-main event bout. Souza was likely down on the judges’ scorecards heading into the third round and was able to pick up the finish.

Many predict the next match-up to be made is a title eliminator between Souza and Adesanya. If that’s the case, Souza doesn’t seem to be too worried. Speaking to MMA Fighting recently, the former Strikeforce middleweight champion admitted he wasn’t impressed by Adesanya’s performance at UFC 230:

”He did a nice job. But what he did, I did better, and twice — and I’m not even a striker —, so what he’s saying makes no sense.

“He’s talking crap. Well, (Adesanya) is good, excellent, has a phenomenal future, is a phenomenal athlete, has a good game. But he didn’t impress me, no, because I did better than him. Twice.”

The winner of a potential Souza vs. Adesanya bout could take on the middleweight champion next. While a date has yet to be officially announced, current middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will defend his title against Kelvin Gastelum in the next few months.

It’s believed that fight will take place from Whittaker’s backyard of Melbourne, Australia on February 10, 2019, at UFC 234.

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Kelvin Gastelum Will Turn Down Any Fight But Title Shot

It’s title shot or bust for Kelvin Gastelum:

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Kelvin Gastelum isn’t budging after his latest high-profile win at 185 pounds.

The No. 5-ranked middleweight immediately called out for a title shot against the winner of UFC 225’s Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero main event after his split decision win (highlights here) over veteran Ronaldo Souza in the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., May 12, 2018) UFC 224 from the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It was a close, back-and-forth bout that saw both men have their respective moments and legitimately could have gone either way, but ultimately Gastelum squeaked by the Brazilian jiu-jitsu master to score his second straight victory over a big name after knocking out Michael Bisping last November.

At the post-fight press conference, Gastelum reaffirmed his desire for a title shot and said he wouldn’t accept any other match-up based on his recent body of work:

“I definitely feel like a title shot should be next. I don’t think I’d accept any other fight than the title shot. I’m the most active middleweight there has been. All the guys (I’ve beat) are top-10 and former champions, so I feel like I deserve it.”

There are a couple things going for Gastelum here, and also a few things that may prevent him from getting his coveted title fight.

Working for him is the fact that the middleweight division is lacking in truly elite title contenders; Romero and Gastelum have effectively cleared out the once-crowded top five in the last two years. And with many top names booked or injured, his body of work is no doubt impressive in his frequency and level of competition in addition to how he’s able to knock anyone’s lights out.

But working against him is the fact that he was tapped out by No. 4-ranked former champion Chris Weidman last year, and also that his record over his last four fights, as a result, is just 2-1(1). The no contest was originally a knockout over Vitor Belfort, but beating “The Phenom” at this point isn’t close to what it used to be. He also knocked out former champ Bisping, but ‘The Count’ was a late replacement who had been badly hurt and choked by Georges St-Pierre only three weeks before.

That may or may not be the resumé of a truly deserving title contender, but his rise up the ranks can’t be denied so the 26-year-old future star should get the fight he wants soon.

It’s the only fight he’ll accept, and one for which he said he’s willing to sit out until he gets:

“I definitely feel I deserve the shot. So I definitely feel like I will sit out until my shot is next.”

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UFC 224 Ceremonial Weigh-In Video

Watch the official #UFC224 weigh-in streaming live right now:

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Today’s UFC 224 early weigh-ins saw a significant amount of drama when touted women’s strawweight Mackenzie Dern missed weight by an astonishing seven pounds for her main card bout against Amanda Bobby Cooper at tomorrow’s pay-per-view event from Rio.

The monster miss caused Dern to be fined 10 percent of her purse by CABMMA (the Brazilian athletic commission presiding over the event) and an additional 20 percent by the UFC themselves, but perhaps more damning was the fact that it was Dern’s third time missing the strawweight non-title fight weight of 116 pounds in only six professional MMA bouts.

As expected, Cooper called her out for her unprofessionalism, and the rest of MMA Twitter, of course, did the same.

The spotlight would expectedly be on the women’s bantamweight championship fight between Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington in the UFC 224 main event, but with both fighters making weight effectively, all of the focus is on the hype Dern brings and her inability to make weight consistently.

That could lead to a tense staredown with Cooper at this afternoon’s ceremonial weigh-ins, which you can watch streaming live at 4 p.m EST/1 p.m. PST below:

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UFC Rankings Update: ‘Jacare’ Passes Rockhold Following UFC 221

The UFC went back to Australia last weekend (Sat., February 10, 2018) with UFC 221 from the Perth Arena in Perth, and Yoel Romero stole the show by knocking out former champ Luke Rockhold in the third round of the main event. It was a rough weekend for Rockhold, as he was originally set to face […]

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The UFC went back to Australia last weekend (Sat., February 10, 2018) with UFC 221 from the Perth Arena in Perth, and Yoel Romero stole the show by knocking out former champ Luke Rockhold in the third round of the main event.

It was a rough weekend for Rockhold, as he was originally set to face champion Robert Whittaker before “The Reaper” got injured, and then Romero missed weight but still won. The newly updated official UFC rankings added a bit of insult to injury for Rockhold, as he fell to No. 3 when Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza passed him to take the No. 2 spot.

The other division that saw significant movement was heavyweight, where rising prospect Curtis Blaydes moved up four spots to No. 5 for his wrestling-focused decision win over longtime veteran Mark Hunt, who fell one spot to No. 6, in the co-main event. Australian knockout artist Tai Tuivasa made his debut on the heavyweight rankings at No. 15 after a dominant stoppage of Cyril Asker in Perth.

Check out the full updated rankings via UFC.com:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Daniel Cormier
4 Stipe Miocic
5 Max Holloway
6 Georges St-Pierre
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Cris Cyborg
9 Tony Ferguson +1
11 Robert Whittaker +1
11 Cody Garbrandt
13 Amanda Nunes
14 Khabib Nurmagomedov
15 Joanna Jedrzejczyk

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 Wilson Reis
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Ben Nguyen
9 Dustin Ortiz
10 John Moraga
11 Matheus Nicolau
12 Tim Elliott
13 Alexandre Pantoja
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 Bryan Caraway
8 John Dodson
9 Aljamain Sterling
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Rob Font
12 Thomas Almeida
13 Eddie Wineland
14 Brett Johns
15 Matthew Lopez

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Jose Aldo
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Brian Ortega
4 Josh Emmett
5 Cub Swanson
6 Ricardo Lamas
7 Chan Sung Jung
7 Jeremy Stephens +1
9 Darren Elkins
10 Yair Rodriguez
11 Renato Moicano
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Dooho Choi
14 Myles Jury
15 Calvin Kattar

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Dustin Poirier
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Kevin Lee
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 Beneil Dariush
12 James Vick
13 Anthony Pettis
14 Francisco Trinaldo
15 Evan Dunham

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Darren Till
8 Neil Magny
9 Kamaru Usman
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Carlos Condit
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Dong Hyun Kim
15 Yancy Medeiros

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Jacare Souza +1
3 Luke Rockhold -1
4 Chris Weidman
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Uriah Hall
10 Vitor Belfort
11 Thiago Santos
12 Lyoto Machida
13 Krzysztof Jotko
14 Paulo Costa
15 Brad Tavares

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Glover Teixeira
2 Volkan Oezdemir
4 Jimi Manuwa
5 Ovince Saint Preux
6 Mauricio Rua
7 Misha Cirkunov
8 Corey Anderson
8 Ilir Latifi
10 Patrick Cummins
11 Jan Blachowicz
12 Tyson Pedro +1
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov -1
14 Gian Villante
15 Jared Cannonier

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Fabricio Werdum
4 Cain Velasquez
5 Curtis Blaydes +4
6 Mark Hunt -1
7 Derrick Lewis -1
8 Alexander Volkov -1
9 Marcin Tybura -1
10 Stefan Struve
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Andrei Arlovski
13 Tim Johnson
14 Junior Albini
15 Tai Tuivasa *NR

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Cynthia Calvillo
10 Alexa Grasso
11 Randa Markos
12 Cortney Casey
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Maryna Moroz
15 Tatiana Suarez

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Roxanne Modafferi
6 Barb Honchak
7 Liz Carmouche
8 Katlyn Chookagian
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Montana De La Rosa
12 Rachael Ostovich
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Paige VanZant
15 Shana Dobson

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Julianna Pena
3 Raquel Pennington
4 Germaine de Randamie
5 Ketlen Vieira
6 Cat Zingano
7 Sara McMann
8 Marion Reneau +1
9 Ronda Rousey -1
9 Leslie Smith +1
11 Bethe Correia
12 Aspen Ladd
13 Sarah Moras
14 Irene Aldana
15 Ashlee Evans-Smith

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Chris Weidman Breaks Down Why He Deserves The Next Title Shot

Top UFC middleweight Yoel Romero couldn’t win the interim title after missing weight for the main event of last night’s (Sat., February 10, 2018) UFC 221 from Perth, Australia, but he put about as big of a statement you could on the bout when he knocked out former champ Luke Rockhold (watch highlights here) in the […]

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Top UFC middleweight Yoel Romero couldn’t win the interim title after missing weight for the main event of last night’s (Sat., February 10, 2018) UFC 221 from Perth, Australia, but he put about as big of a statement you could on the bout when he knocked out former champ Luke Rockhold (watch highlights here) in the third round.

The brutal stoppage came out of nowhere as many of the explosive Cuban wrestling legend’s wins do, as he blasted Rockhold above the ear with a stunning shot before landing an all-out left hand that shut off the AKA fighter’s lights for good.

It was a dominant ending in an otherwise close bout, one that should also earn Romero another shot at currently injured champion Robert Whittaker after UFC president Dana White confirmed he was next for the title shot.

However, one top-ranked former champ thinks he should be next, and he explained why online after the fight. No. 4-ranked Chris Weidman, who was cageside in Perth for the fight last night, revealed a number of reasons why he’s the most deserving contender for the belt:

Weidman is indeed in the top 5, and he racked up three consecutive title defenses during his reign from July 2013-December 2015, much more than the last four champions Rockhold, Michael Bisping, Georges St-Pierre, and Whittaker, can lay claim to with one total title defense combined.

His haters would tell you that Weidman only fought and beat aging Brazilians during his run, and indeed there may be some truth to that. But he also put together a run where he won five post-fight bonuses in six fights. Regardless, MMA is the ultimate what-have-you-done-for-me-lately sport, and Weidman has lost three of his last four bouts including knockouts defeats to Romero and Rockhold.

The 185-pound weight class had been thrown into a relative state of disarray under Bisping’s chaotic – and St-Pierre’s brief – reigns. UFC 221 was supposed to be the night that put it back on course, with Whittaker defending the title against the rightful contender in Rockhold. But Whittaker’s bouts with staph and chickenpox threw a wrench in those gears, and Romero essentially put the division back where it was last July when he faced Whittaker for the interim belt at UFC 213.

Now they’ll reportedly square off for the real belt when both are healed (Romero said he broke his leg from two Rockhold kicks), and it’s almost impossible to envision Weidman getting the next shot.

He is coming off an impressive win over Kelvin Gastelum last summer but is also dealing with a thumb injury of his own. A fight versus No. 3 Jacare Souza, who recently got back on track with a knockout win over Derek Brunson at UFC on FOX 27, is probably the most logical fight for Weidman.

Just don’t expect him to stop calling out for a title shot regardless of how many losses he has recently.

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Jacare Says He Got “Much Better” Than Derek Brunson During Layoff

Jacare Souza once again knocked out Derek Brunson in the first round on Saturday night in Charlotte, North Carolina. While it took longer than the 41 seconds it took him to knock Brunson out back in 2012, Jacare still put it to him and scored a first-round TKO. Jacare did give Brunson props for improving […]

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Jacare Souza once again knocked out Derek Brunson in the first round on Saturday night in Charlotte, North Carolina.

While it took longer than the 41 seconds it took him to knock Brunson out back in 2012, Jacare still put it to him and scored a first-round TKO.

Jacare did give Brunson props for improving so much since their first scrap under the Strikeforce banner, but stopped short of excessive praise by adding he himself had gotten ‘much better’ (via MMA Junkie):

“He was very smart and sharp, as well, but I had my guard up and was able to block most of the attacks, all of the attacks. I was very well prepared for the fight. He got better, but I got way better than him. Much better than him.”

“(This is the) way to the belt. I’m coming from a big victory against a good opponent and if there’s nothing else in my way, then get to the belt.”

The Brazilian submission ace has been sidelined with injuries following a TKO loss to Robert Whittaker last year. Although it had been nearly a year since that disappointing defeat, Jacare came through in a huge way in beating Brunson again.

Brunson was even the betting favorite this time around, which shows you the massive improvements he’s made since their first fight, and the disappointing layoff, which Souza described, may have played a factor into it.

The longtime top contender spoke up about the ailments he had to deal with following his loss to Whittaker:

“Nine months without a fight, then I have the surgery and six months without training,” Souza said. “Then I have the second surgery for appendicitis and then I stayed in the hospital 10 days. Then after that I had to carry a bag to my belly to hold the liquids. Everything went to my mind.”

Who should Jacare fight next? Perhaps Kelvin Gastelum, Chris Weidman, of the winner of Rockhold vs. Romero?

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