Report: Yoel Romero vs. Jacaré Souza II confirmed for UFC Fight Night Florida

2019 will really provide a huge reshuffle of the upper tier in the Middleweight division. The UFC are reportedly landing a massive rematch between Yoel Romero and Ronaldo ‘Jacaré’ Souza on the UFC Fight Night Florida card.

The former three time title chaser, Romero was widely expected to meet another Brazilian in the main event slot, with Paulo Costa replaced by compatriot Souza late last night. The pair originally clashed back in 2015 at UFC 194, with Romero picking up a narrow decision victory after scoring an all important and ultimately tied turning spinning-back fist knockdown on the grappling ace.

Long regarded as one of the most imposing athletes in the promotion, freestyle wrestler Yoel ‘Solider Of God’ Romero brings more to the Octagon than just his incredible grappling ability. The Olympian has incredible power in both hands and hold two flying knee stoppage wins in his UFC career.

Losing both title clashes with current champion Robert Whittaker, the rematch in quite questionable circumstances it has to be noted. Yoel was successful in the Interim Middleweight title clash with former division front runner Luke Rockhold, but his vicious third round knockout was marred by a botched weight cut, subsequently leaving him title-less in Perth.

Questions have been asked regarding the Cuban’s conditioning in the past, case in point his contentious win over Tim Kennedy. Romero’s grappling and transitioning is high level of course, look back to his set ups against Chris Weidman and eventual trip and elbow finish of Lyoto Machida.

A 6th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, similarly to Yoel, Souza excels in one specific martial art but brings so much more to the Octagon.

Another heavy handed striker with a knack for a knockout, Jacaré has 22 stoppage wins in his storied career. A more traversed mixed-martial artist than Romero, Souza began his professional career all the way back in 2003 and has featured in promotions such as DREAM, Jungle Fight and Strikeforce where he held the Middleweight strap.

Yet to ‘earn’ his premier UFC title tilt even after a recent stoppage win over Chris Weidman, the alligator found himself on the wrong end of a rather dubious split decision to Kelvin Gastelum which may have resulted in his installment into the Interim Middleweight clash between Israel Adesanya and Gastelum at UFC 236. The 39 year old doesn’t differentiate between joint or choke submissions per say, with arm triangles, armbars and kimuras aplenty on his eye catching résumé.

Taking place on April 27th from the BB&T Centre, UFC Fight Night Florida features clashes like Glover Teixeira’s return versus streaking contender Ion Cutelaba, a Bantamweight meeting of perennial contender John Lineker and upstart Cody Sandhagen, while the highly controversial former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy makes his second Octagon walk after a disqualification against Allen Crowder.

What’s next for Israel Adesanya?

Last night we saw not only the continued rise of the hugely popular Israel Adesanya, but the emergence of a potential title challenger in 2019.

UFC 224 Fight Preview: Jacare vs Gastelum

One of the biggest fights right now in the middleweight division will take place when #2 ranked middleweight Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza faces off against #5 ranked Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 224 in Brazil this Saturday night. Prior to the event, let’s take a closer look at the two warriors who occupy the co-main event spot on the first PPV event in Brazil since June of last year.

Jacare is the definition of a complete mixed martial artist. He has countless Brazilian jiu-jitsu accolades and has been a professional MMA fighter since 2003. Despite being so dominant on the ground, Souza has developed a fantastic wrestling base and has a tip-top stand up game to match. The former Strikeforce middleweight champion has a 25-5 record and has fought, and beaten, some of the best fighters in middleweight’s MMA history, names include Robbie Lawler, Gegard Mousasi and Vitor Belfort. But despite multiple performances of the night awards, the sixth-degree black belt has never fought for a UFC belt. But he’ll be hoping with the right result over Gastelum he will finally get his chance to carry the torch for the UFC’s middleweight division.

Kelvin Gastelum knocks out boxers, submits legit BJJ practitioners, and outwrestles all Americans. Gastelum has surpassed expectations since moving up to middleweight after a troubling time at welterweight cutting weight. Critics always thought that Gastelum seemed too small to trouble the guys at the top of the middleweight division, but the 26-year-old is proving them all wrong. Gastelum has a 14-3 pro record but he possesses all the tools to make it a difficult night for his Brazilian opposition. The Californian impressed in his last fight when he knocked out former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping in an impressive fashion, earning him this fight with the #2 contender of the division.

A few people have asked me who I believe is going to take this fight, I have a sneaky suspicion that Gastelum might upset the apple cart a little bit. I think the Californian has it in him to knock out Jacare early and get the job done inside two rounds. But the unknown outcomes are what makes mixed martial arts so appealing. This fight is there for the taking for both of these gentlemen.

Ryan Cambridge

Breakdown: UFC 224 Gastelum vs. Jacare – Keys to Victory

UFC 224 is quickly approaching. On May 12, 2018, at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the co-main event will include two men who have already proved their worth many times over in the Octagon. They have grown to be well-rounded fighters, and both are coming off knockout wins and want their next chance to get that shot at the belt.

 

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

Ronaldo Souza (25-5-0 1NC) is known in the UFC for being a submission specialist, with big finishes over Gegard Mousasi (R3 guillotine) back in 2014, and more recently over Tim Boetsh at UFC 208 with a perfectly executed Kimura in the first round. With one submission of the night award under his belt coming from a first round armbar win over Chris Camozzi in 2015; it’s no doubt that the Brazilian has a diverse ground game, that is most definitely not to be slept on.

Souza has also developed a highly respectable striking game in recent years, with two of his last three wins (Derek Brunson and Vitor Belfort) both coming first round knockout, subsequently earning him performance of the night awards.

Everything considered, Souza’s number 2 contender spot is well earned, but with his opponent coming off a big knockout over former champ Michael Bisping, some might feel that Gastelum is coming into this very confident. It goes without saying that Jacare will have to employ all his skills to get the win, but specifically he will need to stay away from the power and explosiveness of Gastelum.

Jacare should look to use feints and footwork to try to close the distance, clinch kelvin against the cage and shoot the double leg. If the fight goes to the mat, his BJJ advantage will show, as Gastelum does have a submission loss to Chris Weidman on his record.

It is also worth noting that due to his experience in the Octagon, Souza is more accustomed to a 5 round fight than Gastelum, bringing the latters’ cardio into question.

Kelvin Gastelum

Kelvin Gastelum (15-3-0 1NC) started his career with a dominant run in series 17 of The Ultimate Fighter, capping it off with a split decision win over Uriah Hall. He competed in the tournament at middleweight, but soon decided to move down to welterweight after winning. He found success at 170lbs, showing us a strong and aggressive stand up game with a stocky frame and wrestling background.

However, he was too big for the division and ran into problems with the weight cut multiple times; his loss to Tyron Woodley (split decision) at UFC 183, coupled with the fact he came in over-weight, caused the UFC to step in and Dana White announced that Gastelum would have to move back up to middleweight.

Since returning to his original division he has continued to impress, using his strength to charge his opponents down, with a strong chin and wrestling game to back up any holes left by his aggressive style. He has impressive knockout wins over Nate Marquardt, Tim Kennedy, Vitor Belfort (later overturned but some feel that it was controversial) and most recently Michael “the Count” Bisping.

There is no denying this man his number 5 spot, but he will face his biggest test to date in the form of “Jacare” Souza. He will have to focus primarily on keeping the fight on the feet, as he will feel that he has a better chance striking with Souza as opposed to grappling.  To do this he will need his takedown defence and his jab, but mostly he will need to mix things up as much as possible to keep his opponent guessing, possibly using a lot of low kicks to take Souzas’ base away and make it easier to get the finish – we already know kicks work against Souza since seeing the way Robert Whittaker was able to hit him with front kicks, which opened up opportunities for Whittaker to follow it up with punches.

All in all this has the makings of a very technical, competative fight that could go either way on the night. The method of victory is a difficult one to guess for sure as both fighters have legitimate abilities on both ground and the on the mat.

Time will tell but in the meantime, what do you think?