Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza is adamant about fighting Luke Rockhold again
In their encounter back in Sept. 2011, Rockhold defeated Souza to capture the Strikeforce middleweight championship. The loss ended “Jacare’s” run with the title. Since that fight, Souza has gone 10-1.
Souza rebounded from his split decision loss to Yoel Romero with two straight victories over former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight title holder Vitor Belfort and Tim Boetsch. Souza has already avenged one loss in his career, now he’s looking for another.
Speaking with Estadao, “Jacare” said he is eyeing a fight with Rockhold this summer:
“Everyone knows he’s running away from me, that’s why he invented an injury. I heard that he wants to face me, I’ll talk to the UFC for this fight to come (to fruition) in July.”
Never one to shy away from the verbal battle, Rockhold recently said Souza was calling him out to stay relevant. The No. 3 ranked UFC middleweight doesn’t see it that way.
“It’s nothing like that, I want to fight him because he’s a (top ranked fighter in the) division. It’s not because I want to keep myself relevant. From the time we fought he put a friend to judge the fight, the guy gave the five rounds to him, it was absurd. (The) win (was) stolen from me.”