Ronald ‘Jacare’ Souza showed he’s more than worthy of a middleweight title shot tonight at UFC 198 as he took out Vitor Belfort with ground and pound in the first round.
Round One:
Jacare taking the center of the cage and lands a body kick to start as Belfort moves on the outside.
Belfort leaps into a knee and Jacare tries to grab it and execute a takedown, but Belfort stuffs it and they go back upright.
Jacare trying to go in for a takedown against the cage, but Belfort defends. Jacare keeps him against the cage until Belfort manages to spin him around and move away.
Belfort thinks about leaping in, but then aborts. Jacare goes in low on a takedown and with a bit of effort he does manage to take Belfort down.
Jacare in half guard and grinding his elbow into Belfort’s face. Half of the opening round remaining and Belfort already is bleeding as Jacare rains down a few punches. There’s a lot of blood here close to Belfort’s eyes and so the referee stops the fight for a moment to get the doctor to check on it.
Thankfully there’s no problem and they are reset with Jacare still on top. Jacare passes to side control, but Belfort scrambles. Jacare tried to go for the armbar, but didn’t get it and they both scramble to their feet.
Jacare in on another takedown. Belfort pulls guard and lands a couple of nice upkicks. Jacare now blasts him hard ground and pound.
Jacare moves into full mount and thumps him with more left and rights. Belfort thought about turning to his front and Jacare was ready to go for a choke if he did, so he decides against it. That means Jacare can get back to his ground and pound assault and things aren’t looking good for ‘The Phenom’.
Belfort just covering up and the referee has seen enough, he stops the fight, handing ‘Jacare’ the TKO victory with 4.38mins of the first round gone.
Huge win for Jacare and surely this win over a legend like Belfort will be the final piece in the puzzle to earn him a title shot at 185lbs against the winner of UFC 199’s Rockhold Vs Weidman rematch.
