Jacare justifies taking Gastelum fight: ‘Weidman is injured’

UFC middleweight contender Ronaldo Souza explains why he’s fighting Kelvin Gastelum next.

Ronaldo Souza does not want to wait for too long to get back into the Octagon. After an eight-month layoff following his TKO loss to Robert Whittaker in April 2017, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion was able to go under surgery and recovered from the loss with a TKO victory over Derek Brunson in January.

Now, he wants to make up for all time he has been away from the Octagon, which is why he accepted to take on Kelvin Gastelum, in Rio de Janeiro, on May 12, which contradicted some rumors about Jacare taking on former champion Chris Weidman.

“They had offered me to fight before this date.” Jacare told Combate. “The Rio de Janeiro event was the deadline I had given them. They offered me this fight and I accepted it. Chris Weidman is injured now and I don’t know when he’ll be back. If I were to wait for him, it would probably be six more months. It makes no sense to wait that long.”

As for his actual fight, Jacare didn’t tell too much about his gameplan, but pointed out Kelvin’s strong suits as being his precision and striking and quickness.

“It’s hard to prepare for his game. He’s very fast for the middleweight division. He’s very light, but he believes in his hands and he has connected some good shots. I need to come in fully aware and with a good gameplan to nullify him. It’s a big fight for both of us. It’s a fight that will get us a title shot.”

Ronaldo Souza is expected to take on Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 224. The card will be headlined by a women’s bantamweight title fight between champion Amanda Nunes and challenger Raquel Pennington.