Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza blasts the former and current champion while preparing for his next fight.
The #3 ranked middleweight was scheduled to meet former champion Rockhold last November prior to an injury suffered by the latter scuppering plans.
The Brazilian will now face Tim Boetsch, who is a man ‘Jacare’ respects for agreeing to meet him unlike others he perceives are intentionally “ducking” him.
Souza recently told Fox Sports:
“I wanted to keep myself active. I was looking to fight Luke Rockhold but it seems like he got hurt and now I keep seeing him on social media training and doing things so now I think he’s running. So I’m happy that Tim Boetsch accepted the fight and it’s going to keep me ready and active and fighting so I’m pretty stoked that he took the fight. I’m good to go.”
Rockhold certainly felt the ire of ‘Jacare’ following social media posts which showed the former champion training, despite giving the impression (according to Souza) that he was still injured. Things further escalated when Rockhold offered former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones to a grappling challenge:
“Well at first, I felt kind of sad for him because he got hurt and couldn’t make the fight. I put myself in his shoes and I felt bad about it. But then after a while, watching him training and then especially when I saw he challenged Jon Jones for a grappling match, which we all know if you’re hurt you can’t do grappling, and he wants to fight him, it kind of changed my mind and what I think about him,” Souza said.
“Everything crossed my mind now that he’s running away from me and he’s afraid to fight me.”
Despite this ‘Jacare’ believes that there is one man in particular which holds the key to his greatness, yet according to ‘The Alligator’, he is appearing to be more elusive than first anticipated:
“Fighting the top guys for sure, that’s what I want. That’s what I always want but a fight against (Michael) Bisping — Bisping’s a disaster,” Souza said. “He doesn’t want to fight contenders. He doesn’t want to fight.
“He wants to fight for money. He doesn’t respect the fans. He doesn’t respect the fighters. He only wants to fight for money. So for me, he’s a disaster for this division.”
Bisping is poised to take on Yoel Romero following a return to action later this year, which could potentially lead to the Brazilian meeting another fighter should he make it as far as being granted his title shot.
