The UFC 194 card scheduled for Dec. 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas has added a huge middleweight match to bolster the main card as Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza faces Yoel Romero. The fight has been booked several times before but has not happened, but now that the fight is set, the winner will be next up for the UFC Middleweight title.
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The UFC Middleweight title will also be contested at UFC 194 as champion Chris Weidman defends his belt against Luke Rockhold, and the main event is scheduled to be the massive Conor McGregor vs Jose Aldo title unification bout, so UFC 194 is practically assured of being the biggest UFC show of the year.
Adding the “Jacare” versus Romero matchup to this card certainly helps to raise the profile of the next middleweight title fight.
Romero (10-1) may be the hot hand heading into this bout, as he last fought in January when he defeated former Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida in a match that was considered a step-up fight for Romero. That win left him a perfect 6-0 in the UFC.
Souza (22-3) owns an eight fight winning streak and is 5-0 in the UFC, but his last outing was not a flashy as Romero’s, as he defeated late replacement Chris Camozzi in less than three minutes. Camozzi was a late replacement for Romero, who was out with a meniscus tear that healed without surgery.
After the Camozzi fight, Souza did have meniscus surgery to repair his own knee problem, and he was expected to be back in September. Putting the meeting off to the same day as Rockhold-Machida helps the winner by having him on the same schedule as the champion.
Of course, the winner of Romero and “Jacare” will face Rockhold or Weidman, who ever is champion after UFC 194. However, if the Weidman versus Rockhold fight ends in compelling fashion, a rematch may be warranted. That would be bad for Romero and Souza, as both men are on the plus side of 35 years of age, so time is not on their side.
Flashback to the UFC’s video “Jacare: Punches, Bullets, and Bombs” from back in May of 2013 when “Jacare” made his UFC debut.
