'Jacare' Souza still thinks a UFC middleweight title shot could be next
After his second round submission won over Lyoto Machida earlier this month, many have declared Luke Rockhold as the rightful No. 1 contender for the UFC middleweight championship. Of course, champion Chris Weidman and challenger Vitor Belfort are set to meet May 23 at UFC 187 in Las Vegas.
After that, Rockhold seems like a good fit to challenge the winner. The former Strikeforce chamion, Rockhold, has won and finished four consecutive fights over increasingly tough competition, and has won 13 out of his last 14 fights overall.
Despite all of that, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza still believes that it is possible for him to leapfrog Rockhold and fight for the title next. At least, he hopes so.
"Anything can happen in this division, but I believe the UFC won't decide that before the Belfort and Weidman fight," he said in a recent interview with Guilherme Cruz.
"The fact that Rockhold is ahead of me in the rankings doesn't change anything. Anything can happen."
Souza lost a close decision in Strikeforce back in 2011 to Rockhold. Since then, however, the submission grappling world champion has won eight straight fights, winning all but one by finish.
Given how many times Weidman vs. Belfort has been delayed, Souza knows that there is a possibility that the winner of that UFC 187 title fight could be out for a good while afterwards. In that case, Souza would be willing to fight whoever he needs to.
"That can happen, yes," he said.
"I'm ready to fight anyone."
That attitude will hold even if Rockhold gets the title shot instead of him. With the roll he's on, Souza is confident that a world championship fight for him is just a matter of time.
"I would stay active," he said, speaking of what he'd do if Rockhold gets a title shot before him.
"I know the title shot will eventually come, but I'm in the UFC to fight. Every ranked fighter is interesting. I'm in the UFC to fight, not to pick opponents."
