UFC
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza targeting August return after minor elbow surgery, wants to fight Michael Bisping next
Mar 6, 2014 - 9:05:54 PM Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza targeting August return after minor elbow surgery, wants to fight Michael Bisping next

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza picked up his third UFC win last month with a decision over Francis Carmont, and he's quickly working into title contention in the UFC's middleweight division.

His fellow Brazilian middleweight, Lyoto Machida, is getting the next title fight against Chris Weidman, and he's not ready himself to return until this summer, but he's got a couple of ideas in mind for his next fight. Souza's delay in returning to the cage comes due to a minor surgery, as he had some bone spurs removed from his elbow.

He's now on the mend, and according to a report from Ariel Helwani on the latest edition of UFC Tonight on Fox Sports 1, Souza's looking at one of two fights next. He'd like to face either the winner of Michael Bisping vs. Tim Kennedy next month or the winner of Luke Rockhold vs. Tim Boetsch, with a preference going to Bisping out of the four.

Souza has faced both Rockhold and Kennedy, going five rounds with each of them in title fights in Strikeforce. He defeated Kennedy, but lost the title to Rockhold in a close fight.

Penick's Analysis: With Vitor Belfort still likely in line for the winner of Weidman-Machida, there's time for others in the division to stake their claim as challengers, and these are the names in the mix here. Souza continues to express only tepid interest at best in the Rockhold rematch, though that may be the best matchup from a rankings standpoint. That said, if Bisping beats Kennedy and the UFC wants to give him a No. 1 contender fight, Souza's the guy he should have to get past.