What’s the story?
Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza is the No. 3 ranked middleweight fighter in the UFC and has been calling for a shot at 185-pound gold for quite some time now. Souza has only lost one fight in four years, which came in a split decision loss to Yoel Romero at UFC 194 in December 2015.
While Souza was scheduled to take on former champion Luke Rockhold earlier last year, the AKA team member was forced out of the bout with an injury. After waiting quite some time for a fight, the UFC has now reportedly matched Souza up with #14 ranked Tim Boetsch at UFC 208.
In case you didn’t know...
Souza is a veteran of the sport who has been fighting for almost 15 years and has taken on some of the biggest names the sport of mixed martial arts has to offer such as Tim Kennedy, Robbie Lawler, Derek Brunson, and Gegard Mousasi.
The heart of the matter
Souza is coming off of a first-round TKO win over former 205-pound champion Vitor Belfort at UFC 198. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt is one of the most feared middleweight competitors in the world and has been long discussed as a credible challenger for the 185-pound title.
Also read: UFC News: 'Jacare' Souza calls out UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping
Boetsch, on the other hand, has racked up a two-fight win streak with knockout wins over Rafael Natal and Josh Samman, finishing those bouts in the first and second rounds respectively.
What’s next?
Souza has little to gain from this fight, and with a win over Boetsch he wouldn’t be building up a resume to help further his case to contend for the title.
Boetsch, however, could make a huge statement with a win over the former Strikeforce champion, propelling him immediately into the top five of the division.
Sportskeeda’s take:
Souza’s sizeable gap in ground ability and sheer strength over Boetsch should prove to be too much for the former NCAA Division I wrestler to overcome, but Boetsch’s knockout power could end the fight at any moment.
The match-up is certainly an interesting one, to say the least.
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