In a rematch of two top ten middleweights, the UFC has confirmed that Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza will make his next outing in the Octagon versus former foe Gegard Mousasi in the co-main event of UFC 176.
Reported by Los Angeles Daily News (and confirmed by the UFC via a retweet) this is an important matchup which will go a long way to providing the next contender for the middleweight championship, set to be contested by champion Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida at UFC at July 5th.
‘Jacare’, ranked 4th in the official UFC middleweight rankings, is riding a six-fight winning streak stretching back to his 2012 decision loss to Luke Rockhold for the Strikeforce middleweight title.
Mousasi, ranked 7th in the official UFC rankings and the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, is 1-1 since dropping back to middleweight earlier this year.
This rematch has been in the making since 2008. In their first fight in Japan at Dream 6, Mousasi blasted ‘Jacare’ with an upkick to the jaw for the first round knockout victory.
The UFC 176 card features another high-stakes rematch as the main event, between featherweight champion Jose Aldo and previous challenger Chad Mendes, as well as pivotal bouts in both the men’s flyweight and women’s bantamweight divisions.