Luke Rockhold vs. Jacare Souza | UFC Betting Sites

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was scheduled to rematch former Strikeforce champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza this past November, but he was forced to withdraw from the bout due to injury. The American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) product last competed at June 2016’s UFC 199, losing his title in shocking fashion to Michael Bisping.

Recently speaking on the state of the middleweight division, Rockhold said that he hasn’t seen much ‘movement’, also saying that he’d like to ‘finish business’ with Souza upon his return:

“I haven’t seen much movement in the division, honestly. I think Bisping is a coward and he’s running and trying to get irrelevant fights and I think Jacare is right where he was before I left,” Rockhold said on yesterday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

“Anderson came back, did his thing, I haven’t seen much else go down. I’m excited to get back. ‘Jacare’ says I’m running, he wants to stay relevant, he wants to stay in the fight game, not wait around. He’ll have to wait a while (for a title shot) given the current situation, so I’d love to go in there and fix that situation and finish my business with that man.”

Rockhold even has a time frame for a potential rematch with the Brazilian submission ace:

“If the time works for him, I think that July timeframe, International Fight Week (July), it plays nicely for me. I want ‘Jacare,’ I’m not looking to dance around. I’m going straight through the gut of the division back to my title.”

Souza fought last weekend at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, submitting Tim Boetsch in the first round of their main card bout. “Jacare” is currently ranked No. 2 in the 185-pound division, but Rockhold doesn’t seem to be impressed with his progress:

“I didn’t see anything from ‘Jacare.’ I think he’s slow, I think he’s stiff and I think he forces the fight as to where I flow with the fight,” said Luke. “I haven’t seen him grow since I fought him. I know that I had a little fall back, but I will bounce back and show people that it wasn’t what you will see in the future, I will reset and put that man away,” he concluded.

Rockhold did indeed edge out a decision victory over Souza when the two first met, but would you expect a different outcome in a rematch?

The post Luke Rockhold Responds To Jacare’s Callout appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

After successfully defending his middleweight title for the very first time at this past weekend’s (October 8, 2016) UFC 204 against Dan Henderson, Michael Bisping took the time to call out the division’s top four contenders: Luke Rockhold, Chris Weidman, Ronaldo Souza and Yoel Romero.

Next month, Rockhold and Souza will face off, and Weidman and Romero will scrap with the winner of either bout possibly receiving the next shot at “The Count”.

While Bisping may have generated a bit more interest in the division with his words, Weidman feels as if the champion ‘embarrassed’ himself. The ex-champion also felt as if Bisping ‘barely’ beat Henderson, a man ranked outside of the division’s top 10:

”That guy had it in his head before the fight, and told himself, ‘after I dominate Dan Henderson, I’m going to get on the mic and call out all these four guys and say certain things about them, and it’s going to look really cool,’” Weidman said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “But the guy, he shouldn’t have done that when you barely beat the No. 14 in the division. … to get on the mic like that and call out the top four guys like he just did something impressive, I really thought Dan Henderson should have got his hand raised, so I was embarrassed for him. He can say my name a billion times and call me all the names he wants. That guy does not affect me.”

In fact, Weidman scored the bout for Henderson, who knocked Bisping down multiple times in the opening rounds:

“I scored it for Henderson,” Weidman said. “I thought he won the first round maybe 10-8. I think at least one of the judges should have given him a 10-8, I don’t know why that wasn’t even a thought, and then the second round, I thought he won, yes, he was getting pitter pattered most of the round, but he almost finished the fight again in the second round, then he dropped him again. I think if you almost finish the fight you win the round, it doesn’t matter how long you were losing the round. He was never in danger in the second round so I thought he won that round. Then I also thought he won the fifth round.”

Weidman hasn’t competed since surrendering the title to Rockhold last December, and he admits that it’s still ‘weird’ seeing another man wearing the title, especially one that he doesn’t feel deserves to be atop the throne:

“I kind of got used to it, it was kind of weird to see these guys fighting and that was the for the championship belt, and that was the champion in my weight class” Weidman said. “He’s out there and he’s struggling, it wasn’t an impressive performance at all, and he wanted to go out there and really show he’s the true champ of the MW division. He got the fight he wanted, which was crazy that he got that fight, and that’s the way he looked. It’s a little embarrassing.”

If Weidman can get by Romero at November 12’s UFC 205 from New York, should he be given the next title shot?

The post Chris Weidman To Michael Bisping: You Barely Beat No. 14 appeared first on LowKick MMA.