Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza impressed again tonight at UFC Fight Night 50 with a strong performance against Gegard Mousasi that was capped off by a third round guillotine choke finish.
Round One:
The main event of the evening is underway. Mousasi snaps out the jab. Cagey start and 40 seconds in ‘Jacare’ ducks in on a takedown attempt that misses.
They reset and Jacare presses forward with punches and then tries for the takedown again. Nothing doing for now so he opts for the clinch instead. They battle against the cage with Jacare trying to throw his opponent to the mat, but struggling to do so at this stage.
They trade knee strikes to the legs. Jacare still battling for his first takedown of the evening and Mousasi peppers him with a couple of elbows.
That’s Jacare’s cue to finally land the takedown he’s been looking for. Jacare in half-guard with two minutes of the round remaining. Mousasi does well to get back to full guard and then throws up a triangle choke attempt, but Jacare breaks free.
Jacare stands over Mousasi and almost eats an upkick which is how he was stopped the last time these two met in the DREAM ring several years ago. Jacare quickly makes his way back down to the mat.
Jacare working patiently here on top and then in the final 30 seconds starts working for a kimura submission, but Gegard defends correctly until the horn sounds.
Round two:
Mousasi flicking out the jab again to start the second round. Jacare with a punch and Mousasi counters with a nice hook.
Jacare with a hook of his own now. jacare clips Mousasi with a punch and then unleashes a big flurry of strikes and that forces Mousasi to clinch to get out of immediate danger. Mousasi perhaps looking for a takedown of his own, but is unable to do so and not long after it’s Jacare who’s able to take his opponent to the canvas.
Jacare in half guard and being patient. Half the round gone and Mousasi tries to shift under his opponent and give himself more space.
They scoot over towards the cage and Jacare lands a big hammerfist as he tries to pass guard. Mousasi stands and has to steer clear of more upkicks. Back down he goes and he’s made his way into side control now.
Jacare goes back to the kimura he tried in the first round with less than a minute to go. He’s stepping over Mousasi and yanking on that arm, but Mousasi’s doing his best to defend his limb. There’s a real battle here and Mousasi survives, with Jacare letting go of the attempt just seconds before the end of the round.
Round Three:
Mousasi with a jab and then a solid straight right behind it. Mousasi picking his shots here, for the most part just one at a time.
Both men connect with a punch. Jacare starts swinging aggressively and then clinches. They break apart though and Mousasi back to the jab.
Right hook lands for Mousasi, but Jacare also connects. a couple of left hands land for Mousasi, but Jacare walks through them and connects himself with a heavier blow and then secures a takedown.
To his credit despite looking deflated by being down to the mat again, Mousasi finds a way to work back upright again this time and gets back to striking range.
Jacare moving closer and Mousasi throws some tired looking punches in response. Jacare in on a takedown attempt and gets his opponent down once again.
A little ground and pound from him and Mousasi tries to sit up, only to be pressed back down again. Less than a minute of the round remaining and Jacare postures up and then sinks in a guillotine choke.
He drops back with it, squeezes tight and then lets out a shout of triumph as Mousasi taps out! Mousasi gets the submission win with of the third round gone.
Big win for Jacare against a tough opponent in Mousasi and with four wins under his belt now in the UFC he’s now on the verge of a title shot in the middleweight division.
