Manager drops big hints about Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza’s return

Dangerous Brazilian middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has not been seen in the cage since April, when he was smashed to a second round TKO by new UFC interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. While nothing is official just yet, it sounds like that could change very soon.

Speaking to MMAFighting.com, Jacare’s manager Gilberto Faria explained that he believes Jacare could fight Chris Weidman in December or January. 

“I believe that Weidman might be the next fight, in late-December or early-January, if that’s a good date for the UFC to book this fight,” he said. “When we get closer to that date, we’ll see more clearly what the options are for Jacare’s next opponent.”

In his conversation with MMAFighting, Jacare’s manager also explained that the Brazilian was also briefly considered as an opponent for both Luke Rockhold and Lyoto Machida, but that neither bout worked out. Rockhold instead fought David Branch in the main event of the UFC’s Saturday night stop in Pittsburgh, winning by tap-out due to strikes, while Machida will take on Derek Brunson on October 28.

Jacare’s loss to Whittaker marked the end of a two-fight win-streak, composed of stoppage defeats of Vitor Belfort and Tim Boetsch.

Weidman, meanwhile, recently corrected a three-fight losing streak with a submission win over Kelvin Gastelum. His three losses came against Luke Rockhold, which marked the end of his UFC middleweight reign, Yoel Romero, and Gegard Mousasi.

Who do you think wins a fight between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Chris Weidman?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 9/17/2017.