Ronaldo Souza’s first ever submission loss in his MMA career may have doubled as the final fight of his UFC career.
Souza was removed from the rankings on Wednesday and Sherdog has since reported that ‘Jacare’ has been cut from the UFC after his shock armbar defeat to Andre Muniz at UFC 262. ESPN has since reported that rather than being cut, Souza merely fought out his contract. The loss to Muniz marked the 41-year-old’s fourth straight defeat, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that his days inside the Octagon are done.
Souza debuted in the UFC way back in 2013, defeating short notice replacement Chris Camozzi by first-round arm-triangle choke. He won his next four fights (including another short notice rematch with Camozzi) before dropping a split decision vs. Yoel Romero at UFC 194. Stoppages of Vitor Belfort and Tim Boetsch put him close to a title shot again before Robert Whittaker wiped him out in 2017.
After a knockout of Derek Brunson, Jacare lost a split decision to Kelvin Gastelum, then bounced back with a dramatic third-round KO of Chris Weidman at UFC 230 in 2018. Little did we know that Weidman would be Jacare’s last UFC win, as he would drop a decision to Jack Hermansson, a tepid split decision at light heavyweight versus Jan Blachowicz, a brutal KO against Kevin Holland, and the aforementioned gruesome armbar and broken arm against Muniz.
The former Strikeforce middleweight champion never did get to compete for UFC gold, and the next question is whether or not he’ll continue fighting at all.
UPDATE: ESPN has since confirmed that Jacare is no longer under contract with the UFC, reporting that his bout against Muniz was, in fact the final fight on his current contract.
“‘Jacare’ just wants to take a rest now and take care of his family for now,” manager Andre Pederneiras told ESPN.
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