Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza showed that he’s a major force to be reckoned with in the UFC’s middleweight ranks tonight at UFC Fight Night 28 as he stops Yushin Okami by TKO in the very first round.
Round One
The two men paw at each other from range to start this one off. Jacare moves forward and lands a quick leg kick then retreats. Kick to the body from him and a brief clinch.
They break apart and Jacare lands a hard shot to the head. Okami looks hurt and Jacare senses it, moving in with a relentless assault of punches that have the Japanese fighter covering up against the cage and the fight looks close to being stopped.
Okami hangs in there though and after landing a hard knee strike Jacare starts to slow down, perhaps pacing himself rather than burning his arms out trying to finish him.
They break apart and Okami’s got time to recover. They both seem to be taking a bit of a breather now, but then Jacare presses forward again and close to the cage he lands a huge right down the pipe that topples Okami to the canvas.
Jacare follows him down to the mat and starts hammering down punches on his head and with Okami dazed and covering up the referee calls an end to the fight, handing the Brazilian an impressive first round TKO stoppage.
Okami’s exceptionally tough to beat, so to finish him so definitively is a real feather in Jacare’s cap and this is the kind of performance that could put the former Strikeforce middleweight champion in the running for a title shot in the UFC.
