Jacare Says Rockhold & Romero “Wouldn’t Fight Me”
No. 3-ranked UFC middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza is coming off of a submission victory over Tim Boetsch at this past January’s UFC 208 and he will next take on rising No. 6-ranked Robert Whittaker at UFC on FOX 24.
While “Jacare” admits that Whittaker is a ‘tough’ opponent, it wasn’t exactly his first choice, as he had expressed interest in fighting No. 1-ranked Yoel Romero and No. 2-ranked Luke Rockhold, but he claims that both men ‘wouldn’t’ fight him:
“I was expecting the fight with Yoel Romero, for sure,” Souza told MMAJunkie during a media luncheon on Wednesday. “I asked for Luke (Rockhold) but, as everyone can see, he’s running. He doesn’t want to fight. I also asked for Romero; they said he was going to wait for the belt. And they gave me Robert, who is a tough up-and-comer, young, who I need to watch out for.
“I was surprised not because they gave me this opponent, who I think is tough, and it’s a fight that makes sense considering that the guys I could really fight, like Luke or Romero, wouldn’t fight me now. I was surprised with Romero, because he said he was going to wait for the belt, and as soon as my fight was scheduled, he asked for the fight with Anderson (Silva).
“If he’s the best, if he’s the top guy in the division, the one who’s going to fight for the belt, he needs to beat everyone. So he should fight me and get past me.”
Romero has technically gotten past Souza, as “The Solider of God” scored a highly controversial decision over “Jacare” at Dec. 2015’s UFC 194. In regards to that, Souza called the loss ‘absurd’ before blasting champion Michael Bisping for picking fights:
“The loss I suffered to Romero was absurd, but it was a loss, and that delayed things a bit,” Souza said. “The fact that Bisping picked the fight against Dan Henderson (at UFC 204) – there was no other athlete but me to fight then. Romero had beat me, but he was on a doping suspension. I was next in line. I was coming off a win, too.
“Dan Henderson had just beat a guy who’d come back from a suspension. I was practically certain I was going to fight for the belt. I said, ‘I’m going to fight.’ Bisping picked Henderson, and that put the entire division on hold. And now the division is on hold again. I’m just doing my job now. I’m not complaining anymore. I’m just stating the facts, but I don’t even know what to say anymore. It’s weird.”
Bisping will next take on returning former welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, so “Jacare” will likely have to keep fighting contenders until the UFC has no choice but to hand him a title shot.
