Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza is the latest high-profile star on the verge of testing his worth on the open market after it emerged that his current contract comes to an end following his fight with Robert Whittaker at UFC On FOX 24 on Saturday night.
“We’ve been going back and forth (with UFC officials) for a while,” Souza’s manager Gilberto Faria told MMA Fighting. “We still have not reached an agreement on his value, but we will continue to talk after the fight. Our goal is to reach a new agreement shortly. The UFC middleweight belt is Jacare’s goal. With a good contract in place, we will keep fighting the best middleweight talents out there and earn the title shot.”
‘Jacare’ is currently the UFC’s No.3 at middleweight and has won seven of his eight fights in the Octagon todate, defeating the likes of Gegard Mousasi, Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami along the way.
‘Jacare’s’ news comes just days after No.5 ranked middleweight Gegard Mousasi also entered free agency, and it’s worth noting that both stars have previously worked under Bellator boss Scott Coker during their time in the Strikeforce promotion.
Losing either, or indeed both of these fighters would be a massive blow for the UFC, and after already having saw the likes of Rory MacDonald, Chael Sonnen, Ben Henderson, Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, Lorenz Larkin, Matt Mitrione and Michael McDonald all having made the jump to Bellator, it feels like they can ill-afford to continue to let top 10 ranked, marketable stars continue to slip from their grasp.
