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Jacare Implies Difficult Weight Cut Impacted UFC 224 Performance

“Jacare” Souza recently shed some light on what went wrong at UFC 224…

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Former Strikeforce champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza returned to action this past weekend (May 12, 2018) in his native Brazil, taking on Kelvin Gastelum in the co-main event of UFC 224, which took place at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

The fight, which held major implications in the 185-pound division, was a back-and-forth one, but Souza came up short, dropping a split-decision loss to Gastelum. And although the contest was close, “Jacare” blamed the performance solely on himself:

“Nobody likes to lose,” Souza told MMAFighting through a translator. “I’m at home, I’m here in Brazil. The whole crowd was behind me. I’m very, very sad to lose. It’s disappointing to me to lose here at home in the way that I lost. I should’ve done better. I should’ve cut weight better. I felt my legs and that made it very complicated.

“It was my fault I lost, it happens. Kelvin had a good game plan, he was doing well in the fight, we had a great fight, but I lost. And I want everyone to know that I did everything I could to win. I really wanted to win this fight.”

As far as the weight cut goes, Souza said that he typically cuts weight well, but also that various circumstances led to a bit of an unusual method of cutting for him:

“I’m very healthy. I always cut weight pretty well, but this time I jumped rope a bit too much because there was no sauna in the hotel,” Souza said. “So I jumped too much rope and that’s why I think I felt my legs because of that, but that was it. There are things that happen. We had a great fight and that’s what matters.”

At 38 years old, Souza’s best days could potentially be behind him, but he confirmed that he will continue to compete in the middleweight division:

“About my future, I’m in the middleweight division, I’m gonna wait for the next fight, and I’m gonna do everything I can to win,” Souza said. “I’m going to see with my trainers what happened, what happened wrong, because I felt my legs a lot and I think that’s what complicated the fight.”

Who would you like to see the Brazilian fight next?

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UFC Middleweight Details Serious Injury Before UFC 224

On a card of great finishes at UFC 224, a surging middleweight scored a submission win after a serious injury:

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Vitor Belfort’s protege Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira picked up a dominant win at UFC 224 over the weekend on the same card that saw his mentor get head kicked into retirement.

“Mutante” himself had a difficult training camp while preparing for the previously undefeated Karl Roberson, tearing his hamstring a month before the fight (via MMA Junkie):

“It was very, very hard. I couldn’t spar. I thank God, because I have a great team. Those guys trained me very well for this fight.

“They want my career to last longer. I want to fight until I’m 50 years old.”

Ferreira (13-6) has previously undergone a back surgery that required eight screws to correct. The UFC middleweight relied on his ground game to take Roberson down and ultimately choke him out with an arm-triangle choke in the first round.

“Mutante” is now 5-1 in his last six fights and is on a modest two-fight win streak, but is certainly working his way into the top 10 of the middleweight division. Even his most recent loss to Elias Theodorou was extremely competitive and quite close:

“I think I earned my spot in the UFC rankings, because everybody knows that I have a six-win streak. The fight that I lost in Canada, the judges took away from me. I won the fight clearly, with one hand – I broke my hand in the first round. I’ve already said everything I think about it, so I’m just going to wait to see my next opponent.”

Does “Mutante” deserve a top ten middleweight after Saturday night?

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UFC 224 Bonuses: Kelvin Gastelum & Jacare Souza Rewarded For Close Battle

With yet another Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) card in the history books, a fresh list of bonus winners has been revealed. This past Saturday night (May 12), UFC 224 took place inside the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The main card a…

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Miesha Tate Defends Raquel Pennington’s Corner From UFC 224 Criticism

Miesha Tate has given her take on this controversial situation.

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Miesha Tate has given her take on the controversy involving Raquel Pennington.

It’s been well documented that Amanda Nunes successfully retained her women’s bantamweight title over Pennington at the UFC 224 pay-per-view event on Saturday, May 12, 2018 at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It was a one-sided fight that saw Pennington telling her corner of trainers that “I’m done” after the fourth round.

However, they did not let her give up and instead, they gave their fighter some encouragement as well as sent her back out for the fifth round.

This is when Nunes was able to finish the title contender to earn a TKO victory, which marked her third straight title defense.

Moving on to the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Tate stated during an appearance on SiriusXM Rush after the event that she agreed with Pennington’s corner to not stop the fight before the last round in this title bout.

“I think that I would’ve done the same thing if I was in her corner’s shoes,” Tate said (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “It’s important that a fighter loses with dignity, and I think that Raquel lost with dignity. She went out there and she got finished. She went out on her shield. I would have done the same thing because sometimes when you’re tired and you don’t think you have enough left, your coach’s job is to pull the most out of you and I think that’s what the corner was trying to do – not let her give up on herself, get her back in the game mentally. She lost, but she went out there. She could have quit at any point if she felt like she couldn’t hang in there. She got finished, and I would have done the same thing.”

“I think he didn’t want to let her give up on herself in the fifth round,” Tate said. “She’s very durable and she’d been doing really well up until that point – not necessarily winning but she wasn’t out of the fight. I think she deserved to not give up on herself, to go out there and try to win that fight. It didn’t work out that way but it could have. She could have gone out there and done something incredible that fifth round and been like, ‘Thank you, coach. You’re a genius for not letting me give up in that fifth round.’

“You always have a little bit more in the gas tank when you feel like you’re done. I think that her coach really wanted to give her the best opportunity and not let her give up on herself.”

Tate does have a history with both fighters. First, she lost the title to Nunes back in July of 2016 where she suffered a defeat to Nunes by rear-naked choke in the first round of the UFC 200 main event.

Then, Tate fought and lost to Pennington in her last pro-MMA bout at UFC 205 in November of 2016.

“When you’re in those mentally weak spots, that what your coach is there to do. Your coach is there to say, “No, no, no. Don’t give up on yourself. You made it this far. You’ve got one more round. Five more minutes for the rest of your life. I’m not going to let you quit.’ That’s the coach’s job and I think that he made the right decision.”

“She did get finished but if she really wanted to she could have just said, ‘I’m not gonna go out for the next round,’” Tate said. “I think she was looking for her coach to give her the words of encouragement. ‘I want to be done.’ Yeah, but you’re not. And she got off the stool and went back out for the fifth round. She didn’t have to do that. Nobody tied her hands behind her back and shoved her out there.

“She got the opportunity to win or to lose, to finish or to be finished. She had every opportunity in the book, and I think she’ll be glad that she went out for the fifth round and overcame that mental hurdle of not wanting to. She poured her whole heart out there, and I don’t think she’s going to regret that decision.”

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John Lineker Wants Top Five Opponent Or Title Fight Next

Following UFC 224, John Lineker has made it clear as to what he would like next…

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Heavy handed bantamweight contender John Lineker picked up his second consecutive victory last night, scoring a third-round knockout over Brian Kelleher. The win didn’t come easily, however, as Lineker actually admitted that he was ‘surprised’ by how durable the Long Island native is:

“I sure was surprised,” Lineker told MMAjunkie. “I threw everything I had at him, and he absorbed it all.

“At the end of the first round, I said, ‘What now?’”

With the win, Lineker has now won four of his last five bouts and should be in line for a big fight next. The only problem, however, is that the majority of the fighters ranked ahead of him are tied up.

For example, No. 4-ranked Jimmie Rivera is scheduled to take on No. 5-ranked Marlon Moraes in the main event of UFC Fight Night 131 on June 1 in Utica, New York.

Moving on, No. 3-ranked Raphael Assuncao is set to take on Rob Font at July 7’s UFC 226 from Las Vegas, Nevada, while No. 2-ranked Dominick Cruz has been dealing with an injury and No. 1-ranked Cody Garbrandt is set to rematch champion TJ Dillashaw at UFC 227 in August.

With that being said, options are limited for “Hands of Stone”, but he’s made it clear that he’s interested in a big fight nonetheless:

“Ranked or not ranked, he showed how tough he is,” Lineker said. “He sold the fight very well. I think the UFC will see this fight and will think that I deserve to get a top-five (opponent) and a title shot.”

Who would you like to see Lineker take on next?

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Tecia Torres Responds To Criticism Of Raquel Pennington’s Cornerman

It appears as if Raquel Pennington is content with her corner’s decision making at UFC 224…

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Raquel Pennington put forth a valiant effort against bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in the main event of last night’s (May 12, 2018) UFC 224 from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her toughness was on full display, but in the end, she simply had little to offer the Brazilian titleholder.

In fact, the fight was so one-sided that prior to the fifth round, Pennington told her corner she had had enough. However, her corner elected not to throw in the towel and Pennington came out for the final frame where she was ultimately finished.

Following the fight, Pennington’s corner has received a tremendous amount of criticism, but UFC strawweight Tecia Torres, Pennington’s longtime partner, said that her and “Rocky” agree with how the corner handled the situation:

“Both us and our coaches agree with the decision made to go into the 5th round,” Torres wrote on Instagram. “We know Raquel more than anyone else and know if we let her give up on herself going into the last round she would have always regretted it. She fought with heart and grit until the end.”

Check out the full post below:

#Forever I am extremely proud of my lady. You are a warrior babe. Fought every second you possibly could. You continue to amaze me daily. You motivate me to work hard and one day too receive the same opportunity to fight for a UFC championship. We are the 1%ers. Very few will ever know what we go thru as fighters and an even smaller percentage will ever earn the chance to fight on such a big stage and for a world title. #RideOrDie #AlwaysProud PS: Both us and our coaches agree with the decision made to go into the 5th round. We know Raquel more than anyone else and know if we let her give up on herself going into the last round she would have always regretted it. She fought with heart and grit until the end. PSS: Exactly one year ago today you asked me to marry you, I can’t freaking wait to wife you! @raquel_pennington

A post shared by Tecia Torres (@teciatorres) on May 13, 2018 at 11:37am PDT

Do you agree with Torres or should Pennington’s corner have stopped the fight?

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