Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza expects to rematch Yoel Romero before either of them gets a title shot

This weekend, on the main card of UFC 208, middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza will take on the unheralded but undeniably dangerous Tim Boetsch. If he’s able to pass this test, the next step would seem to be a bout with the winner of champ Michael Bisping and challenger Yoel Romero’s yet-unscheduled title fight.

Jacare, however, is not confident this is the way things will unfold.

Over the last few months, the Brazilian has been openly critical of Bisping’s desire for lucrative money fights over fights with top contenders. He thinks this trend will continue, and that Bisping will avoid a fight with Romero. He then believes he and Romero will be forced into a do-over of their controversial 2015 fight, which Romero won by split decision.

Jacare explained this belief in an interview with MMAFighting.com.

“[The Romero rematch] will happen because Bisping is afraid,” Souza. “Bisping is running. [The Romero] fight will happen. I believe that after my fight, Romero is next. My focus is the belt, I’d rather right Bisping next, of course, but I believe I’ll end up fighting Romero. We have unfinished business.”

Jacare then commented once again on Bisping’s tendency to call for money fights.

“The reality is he doesn’t fight for his honor nor his family’s,” he said. “He doesn’t even fight for himself. He just wants to fight for money. He doesn’t give a damn about the fans, what fans want. Fans pay this jerk’s salary, so he better respect the fans.”

“I’m still in the title run,” he added. “Everybody knows I’m the best option available. Everybody knows that Bisping’s fight with Dan Henderson was a disaster. They didn’t even disclose the pay-per-view numbers. Nobody was interested in watching that crappy fight.”

Do you think Michael Bisping will accept a fight with Romero, or is Jacare right in this case? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/8/2017.