Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza is one of the most dominant 185-pound fighters on the planet, and he proved it by obliterating former light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort in the first round of their co-main event bout at UFC 198 this past May. The No. 3-ranked middleweight could be next in line for a shot at the 185-pound
Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza is one of the most dominant 185-pound fighters on the planet, and he proved it by obliterating former light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort in the first round of their co-main event bout at UFC 198 this past May.
The No. 3-ranked middleweight could be next in line for a shot at the 185-pound crown, and in a recent interview with MMA Fighting, the surging Brazilian stated that he believes he’s leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else in the talented 185-pound pool:
“I can guarantee you that I’m physically better than anyone in the middleweight division today,” Souza said. “I’m training, running, jumping. I’m healthier and physically better than anyone in this division.
Whenever they book the fight, and I’m sure it’s going to be for the belt, I’ll start my camp. No one has earned it more than me.
I’m just waiting for the call from the UFC. I believe they will look at it in a meritocracy aspect, and it can’t be anyone but me. I’m waiting for the date.”
Many of those who sit atop the UFC’s middleweight rankings have been clamoring for a shot at current champion Michael Bisping, underestimating the Englishman and viewing him as somewhat of a mediocre champion.
‘Jacare’, however, will not make the same mistake that former champion Luke Rockhold did, and will take Bisping very seriously if the two find themselves squaring off inside the Octagon with one another:
“I never underestimate anyone, and won’t underestimate Bisping,” he said. “I don’t know why everybody is calling him out when they won’t deserve to fight him.
They don’t know where they are going when they didn’t even earn it. Dan Henderson is way behind, there’s no possibility he fights Bisping. It’s disrespectful to both of us, the No. 1 contender and the champion.
I honestly don’t give a damn (about Henderson). I think it would be wonderful if he fought for a title before retiring, but not in front of me. You have to earn it. Beat a top of the division first.
He’s coming off many losses. If he wants to fight Bisping, he has to wait for his turn. Dan Henderson can’t fight for the title. It’s impossible. It won’t happen.”
With talk of former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre nearing an Octagon return, and possibly in the 185-pound division, there’s a strong probability that the Canadian phenom could get an immediate title shot upon his middleweight debut:
“St-Pierre never fought at middleweight. I don’t know what he’s doing here,” said the Brazilian. “To me, he’s a chicken. If I get him, I’ll break him in half.
He’s retired and wants to fight for the title in a division he never fought before? He always ran away from Anderson (Silva), ran from fighting at 185, and now he wants the belt?
Look, I’ll give him this chance, and it’s going to be easy for me,” he continued. “I would pass on fighting for the belt only to fight him if he moves up.
He’s a chicken. If he wants to move up, I would let Bisping for later, since I know I’m the next in line. If he wants to move up, I want him. I will break his neck.”
While a title shot for Souza would certainly make sense, 185-pound champion Bisping has stated that ‘nobody cares’ about the Brazilian and that a fight with the No. 3-ranked middleweight just wouldn’t sell as much.
Souza responded to this by stating he has no shortage of fans and is ready to fight, selling some pay-per-views (PPVs) in the process:
“People have no idea what they are talking about. I don’t know where they got that from,” “Jacare” said. “I fought (Gegard) Mousasi in the United States and the whole crowd was in my favor.
I fought the most popular fighter in Brazil, who is also very popular around the world, and the whole crowd was rooting for me. Fans are supporting me on social media. Aside from that, I’m ready to fight and ready to sell pay-per-views.”
How does GSP stack up against the upper echelon of the 185-pound division? Do you think ‘Jacare’ is next in line for a shot at the gold?
A lifelong dream was recognized over a week ago when UFC veteran Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping downed the now-former champion Luke Rockhold in the main event of UFC 199, to capture the first UFC title in the Brit’s decade-long UFC career. Now Bisping is as cocky and confident as ever, as he is prepared to
A lifelong dream was recognized over a week ago when UFC veteran Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping downed the now-former champion Luke Rockhold in the main event of UFC 199, to capture the first UFC title in the Brit’s decade-long UFC career.
Now Bisping is as cocky and confident as ever, as he is prepared to take on all challengers for his first UFC title defense. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour this week, Bisping spoke on who that challenger just might be:
“Well, you know of course, I’m no spring chicken,” he said. “I’m 37. It’s not like I’ve got 10 years ahead of me. There’s certain fights that I want, there’s certain people I’d like to get revenge on, and there’s certainly viable contenders. So there’s many different ways you can go and there are many ways you can look at things.
“Now I know Chris Weidman is bitching and getting on like a 12-year-old on Instagram and stuff, talking about me and directing insults at me and this and that. The fact of the matter is that Chris just lost to the guy that I just knocked out.
He wasn’t scheduled to fight me, he was scheduled for a rematch with Luke Rockhold. So as far as I’m concerned, Chris Weidman needs to win a fight.
Chris Weidman is out of the equation. Chris Weidman is coming off a loss, and unless you’re called Chael Sonnen you don’t get title shots coming off a loss.”
Another viable contender the champion mentioned is No. 3-ranked Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, who is coming hot off of a first round thrashing of Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 in May:
“Jacare of course is a very, very viable contender,” he said. “So he’s certainly in the running. A rematch with Luke Rockhold, again, I think Luke should rematch with Chris and then whoever wins that is probably the No. 1 contender.
Yes me and Luke are one and one, but that first fight was two years ago and this rematch wasn’t even close. I knocked him out in three minutes.
I knocked him out cold, so maybe Chris and Luke, they have the match that was scheduled and the winner of that is the No. 1 contender.”
A rematch with Dan Henderson is also an intriguing matchup to Bisping, as the pair met at UFC 100 back in 2009 that saw Henderson putting Bisping to sleep early with a nasty right hand. Now with ‘Hendo’ coming towards the end of his career, and riding the momentum of the devastating knockout win over Hector Lombard at UFC 199, a rematch between the two makes sense now more than ever:
“Of course, there’s been talk about Dan Henderson, which kind of came out of the blue,” Bisping said. “Dan Henderson kind of tweeted it out, and Joe Rogan put a picture on Instagram, and that seems to be getting a lot of traction.
Of course, that is a fight that I would love. There hasn’t been any kind of offer or anything like that, but that’s a fight that I would take because everybody knows about UFC 100, and Dan Henderson still has an image of him floating above my head while I’m knocked out as his logo. So, I would like to put him in his place.”
“One thing I would like to do is defend the belt in the U.K.,” he said. “I would love to defend the belt in Manchester later in the year.”
Later in the interview Helwani asked Bisping on his thoughts of a potential showdown against former 170-pound king Georges St-Pierre, an idea that seemed to intrigue the new champ:
“It kind of has now that you mentioned it,” he said. “As you said, fighting Georges St-Pierre [would be] great, and of course for the title for who has the most wins in UFC history…I mean, that alone is a fantastic tagline and great promotion.
And of course, the numbers would be fantastic with Georges St-Pierre, he’s a massive, proven draw, and at the end of the day we’ll try to generate as much money as possible.
“I do want to defend the belt, and I want to make as much money as I can in the process. So, I would certainly be open to sending Georges St-Pierre back to a movie set because that would be a fight I would definitely win and if Georges St-Pierre is listening, any time you fancy it, just be a man and sign on the dotted line and your return will be short-lived.”
“Whether it’s Georges St-Pierre, Dan Henderson, Jacare Souza — who ever it is, line them up and I’ll knock them down.”
When former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman was forced to withdraw from his scheduled title rematch with Luke Rockhold at June 4’s UFC 199, top contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza was the UFC’s first choice to fill in. “Jacare” was dealing with a knee injury, however, and the promotion called on long-time divisional mainstay Michael Bisping
When former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman was forced to withdraw from his scheduled title rematch with Luke Rockhold at June 4’s UFC 199, top contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza was the UFC’s first choice to fill in.
“Jacare” was dealing with a knee injury, however, and the promotion called on long-time divisional mainstay Michael Bisping to step up and face off with Rockhold.
Bisping would end up shocking the world and knocking Rockhold out cold in the very first round to become the new undisputed 185-pound champion.
Recently speaking with MMAFighting.com, Souza said that he’ll be ready to return by November, and that he feels deserving of the next title shot, although he may ‘spank’ someone else before the shot at gold presents itself:
“I’m not afraid at all, I think I deserve the title shot,” said Souza in response to the idea that he’d be passed over after declining to fill in for any injured Weidman at UFC 199. “Even if they give me somebody else to fight before the title shot, I might take it and spank someone. But I know I have the right to be the next one.”
Despite holding a very impressive 6-1 Octagon record, Souza may very well be passed over, as the title shot could be awarded to Weidman. The ex-champion recently called out Bisping for a fight in his home of New York on November 12, 2016 at UFC 205 which may be too lucrative of an opportunity for the UFC to pass up.
Yoel Romero is another top contender in the title discussion, and he actually owns a win over “Jacare” last December, albeit a controversial victory at best.
While admitting that he should’ve prepared better for that bout, Souza also claimed that “The Soldier of God” fought dirty:
“I probably should have been better prepared for that fight, but I believe I did a good job,” added Souza regarding his defeat to Romero. “I came back, I showed heart. And he was not loyal. He kind of fought dirty, held the cage twice. It is what it is.”
Who should receive the next shot at gold in the stacked 185-pound division?
Well, UFC 199, which went down last night live on pay-per-view (PPV) from The Forum in Inglewood, California, provided the mixed martial arts (MMA) community with one of the craziest nights in recent memory. Multiple story lines prevailed, but perhaps none more memorable than the one that emerged from the main event. 25 Octagon fights
Well, UFC 199, which went down last night live on pay-per-view (PPV) from The Forum in Inglewood, California, provided the mixed martial arts (MMA) community with one of the craziest nights in recent memory.
Multiple story lines prevailed, but perhaps none more memorable than the one that emerged from the main event.
25 Octagon fights and a decade into his storied UFC career, Michael “The Count” Bisping has finally reached the pinnacle.
Accepting a bout with Luke Rockhold on just over two weeks’ notice, many had Bisping was a huge +600 underdog heading into the night.
After all, Rockhold did dismantle the British veteran in November 2014, and Bisping came into that bout with a full camp.
However, as we are so often reminded, the fight game is unpredictable.
Bisping came out firing in the first round, putting Rockhold away with strikes early on to become the undisputed middleweight champion of the world.
What a rollercoaster ride it has been for “The Count”, and now at age 37, he’s finally on top.
Let’s take a look at four potential fights for Bisping to take next:
When Michael Bisping received the call from UFC management offering him the title fight against Luke Rockhold in the UFC 199 main event on short-notice, “The Count” was the guy to count-on for the company, however he wasn’t their first choice.
As noted, UFC initially contacted Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, who was coming off a dominant performance in stopping MMA legend Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil earlier this month. Jacare, however, turned down the bout.
When Bisping found out about the fact that Souza had declined the title fight with Rockhold, which would have also been a rematch for the UFC 185-pound champion, he took the Brazilian contender to task, openly criticizing him for turning down such a big opportunity.
Upon hearing about Bisping’s comments, Souza spoke with MMAFighting.com, where he offered his retort.
“Honestly, I didn’t know I’d get hurt so bad,” Souza told MMA Fighting about the reason why he had to turn down the short-notice offer to fight Rockhold in the UFC 199 main event on June 4. “I felt the pain before UFC 198, but was well trained and strong, so I didn’t train for a week. I felt the knee again during the fight. I was devastated because I did the MRI on May 16 and on May 17 I got the news that Weidman was injured. If I knew about it, I wouldn’t even do the MRI [laughs]. I had to open the black box to see what was going on with my knee.”
Souza continued, “It was a clean surgery, and I’m walking normally now. I had to do this surgery. I had a meniscus injury, and it would definitely get worse if I didn’t do this now. I was physically well in the fight, could move normally. Everybody has injuries going into a fight, it’s impossible to be 100 percent, but thank God I had the best strategy and won.”
As he would go on to explain, Jacare is scheduled to start rehab with his doctor and physical therapist and is expected to be cleared to train in approximately 20 days.
“I was going to say yes (and fight at UFC 199), but the MRI was done. I couldn’t just ignore the results,” he said. “Healthy first. I’m a Christian man, so I prayed. Whatever was in the MRI results would determine my future, if I would take the fight or not. The doctor told me ‘you fought Belfort for five minutes and can’t walk now. Imagine yourself fighting Rockhold for 25 minutes. You’ll lose your leg’. I decided not to fight because of my health.”
Jacare was scheduled to be ringside for the originally scheduled Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman title fight at UFC 199, however he still plans to be in attendance when Bisping challenges Rockhold for the title in Inglewood, California.
“I am the next challenger,” said the Brazilian. “Weidman won’t be back in a while, (Yoel) Romero was caught in a doping test, and I’ve earned a shot. I already asked the UFC for my flight ticket.”
In the end, Jacare made it clear that he’s next in line for a shot at the 185-pound title, and despite Bisping’s harsh criticism of his decision to turn down the short-notice opportunity at UFC 199, he wished the Englishman good luck in his upcoming title fight.
“(Bisping) is in the UFC for a long time, but that means nothing,” Souza responded. “I fought the guy that knocked him out, so no way he’s in front of me. The guys I beat are tougher than the ones he defeated. Time means nothing, what really means is what you’ve done to earn it. I earned it. They called me on short notice and I couldn’t take it, but I’m next. No need to say anything else. My loss to Romero was a robbery and then he got caught. Weidman won’t return until November. And I beat Vitor up, so I’m next.”
“But I wish him good luck, a good fight,” he continued. “He can say whatever he wants, and I’ll say what I want. I hope he does a good fight. He’s in the UFC for 10 years and does a good job, so I hope he fights well.”
UFC 199: Rockhold vs. Bisping II is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 4, 2016 from The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Make sure to visit MMANews.com on 6/4 for the best UFC 199 live results coverage on the web!
When Michael Bisping received the call from UFC management offering him the title fight against Luke Rockhold in the UFC 199 main event on short-notice, “The Count” was the guy to count-on for the company, however he wasn’t their first choice.
As noted, UFC initially contacted Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, who was coming off a dominant performance in stopping MMA legend Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil earlier this month. Jacare, however, turned down the bout.
When Bisping found out about the fact that Souza had declined the title fight with Rockhold, which would have also been a rematch for the UFC 185-pound champion, he took the Brazilian contender to task, openly criticizing him for turning down such a big opportunity.
Upon hearing about Bisping’s comments, Souza spoke with MMAFighting.com, where he offered his retort.
“Honestly, I didn’t know I’d get hurt so bad,” Souza told MMA Fighting about the reason why he had to turn down the short-notice offer to fight Rockhold in the UFC 199 main event on June 4. “I felt the pain before UFC 198, but was well trained and strong, so I didn’t train for a week. I felt the knee again during the fight. I was devastated because I did the MRI on May 16 and on May 17 I got the news that Weidman was injured. If I knew about it, I wouldn’t even do the MRI [laughs]. I had to open the black box to see what was going on with my knee.”
Souza continued, “It was a clean surgery, and I’m walking normally now. I had to do this surgery. I had a meniscus injury, and it would definitely get worse if I didn’t do this now. I was physically well in the fight, could move normally. Everybody has injuries going into a fight, it’s impossible to be 100 percent, but thank God I had the best strategy and won.”
As he would go on to explain, Jacare is scheduled to start rehab with his doctor and physical therapist and is expected to be cleared to train in approximately 20 days.
“I was going to say yes (and fight at UFC 199), but the MRI was done. I couldn’t just ignore the results,” he said. “Healthy first. I’m a Christian man, so I prayed. Whatever was in the MRI results would determine my future, if I would take the fight or not. The doctor told me ‘you fought Belfort for five minutes and can’t walk now. Imagine yourself fighting Rockhold for 25 minutes. You’ll lose your leg’. I decided not to fight because of my health.”
Jacare was scheduled to be ringside for the originally scheduled Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman title fight at UFC 199, however he still plans to be in attendance when Bisping challenges Rockhold for the title in Inglewood, California.
“I am the next challenger,” said the Brazilian. “Weidman won’t be back in a while, (Yoel) Romero was caught in a doping test, and I’ve earned a shot. I already asked the UFC for my flight ticket.”
In the end, Jacare made it clear that he’s next in line for a shot at the 185-pound title, and despite Bisping’s harsh criticism of his decision to turn down the short-notice opportunity at UFC 199, he wished the Englishman good luck in his upcoming title fight.
“(Bisping) is in the UFC for a long time, but that means nothing,” Souza responded. “I fought the guy that knocked him out, so no way he’s in front of me. The guys I beat are tougher than the ones he defeated. Time means nothing, what really means is what you’ve done to earn it. I earned it. They called me on short notice and I couldn’t take it, but I’m next. No need to say anything else. My loss to Romero was a robbery and then he got caught. Weidman won’t return until November. And I beat Vitor up, so I’m next.”
“But I wish him good luck, a good fight,” he continued. “He can say whatever he wants, and I’ll say what I want. I hope he does a good fight. He’s in the UFC for 10 years and does a good job, so I hope he fights well.”
UFC 199: Rockhold vs. Bisping II is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 4, 2016 from The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Make sure to visit MMANews.com on 6/4 for the best UFC 199 live results coverage on the web!
![060416-UFC-Michael-Bisping-1.vadapt.664.high.51[1]](http://cdn.lowkickmma.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/060416-UFC-Michael-Bisping-1.vadapt.664.high_.511.jpg)
Many of those who sit atop the UFC’s middleweight rankings have been clamoring for a shot at current champion Michael Bisping, underestimating the Englishman and viewing him as somewhat of a mediocre champion.
While a title shot for Souza would certainly make sense, 185-pound champion Bisping has stated that ‘nobody cares’ about the Brazilian and that a fight with the No. 3-ranked middleweight just wouldn’t sell as much.
Another viable contender the champion mentioned is No. 3-ranked Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, who is coming hot off of a first round thrashing of Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 in May:
Later in the interview Helwani asked Bisping on his thoughts of a potential showdown against former 170-pound king Georges St-Pierre, an idea that seemed to intrigue the new champ: