Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza’s foray into the UFC’s light heavyweight division may turn out to be a pit stop, with the Brazilian considering returning to the middleweight division following his loss to Jan Blachowicz at UFC Sao Paulo.
Jacare Souza was a perennial title contender at middleweight, but when he decided to move up to light heavyweight earlier this month at UFC Sao Paulo against Jan Blachowicz, he was potentially pushed out of his new division after losing his UFC light heavyweight debut via unanimous decision (Via MMA Fighting):
“My manager and my team are talking which weight class I’ll fight next, so there’s a lot going on here right now,” Souza said. “We’ll make a decision really soon on what’s best for us. We’re looking at staying at 205 or going back to 185.”
One of Jacare’s greatest strengths over the years has been his ability to not only utilize his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt on the canvas, but to take the fight to the mat in the first place. In his bout against Blachowicz, Souza was unable to take him down, which could be due to facing a bigger opponent than he has grown accustomed to:
“I didn’t expect it would be so tough (to take him down),” Souza said. “I was also surprised by his size. I trained with heavyweights for this fight and this guy is really big [laughs].”
Some may believe that Jacare is at a point in his career where cutting weight could be an obstacle to returning to middleweight, but Souza feels willing and able to cut the weight if he were to decide to return to 185.
“Everybody suffers cutting weight, that’s life, but I’m 40 years old,” Souza said. “I cut weight my entire life and maybe I was full of it, but I’m excited again, I’m happy, and I want to work. I’m still one of the top fighters of the division.”
Do you believe Jacare Souza should move back down to middleweight or give light heavyweight another go?
