Ronaldo Souza

Ronaldo Souza "Jacare" dos Santos is a successful competitor in grappling and Mixed Martial Arts. Souza was born in Vila Velha, Brazil, where he spent much of his early life. At age 15 he witnessed a friend's violent death and was sent to live with his brother in Manaus. Souza played soccer for fun until he later got the chance to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) at the gym of Henrique Machado, a coach and black belt in BJJ and Judo. Souza was skeptical of grappling until he was defeated in a sparring match, inspiring him to learn the art. He adopted the nickname "Jacare" which is the English translation of Portuguese for "Alligator" due to his strength and aggressiveness. He became a member of the newly formed Sensei Fighting Sports Association. Because of limited academy resources to fund pupils in competitions, Jacare competed under different banners. After many successes in state level grappling competitions, in 2003 he won his first world title in grappling at the World Championships Brown Belt Division. It was the same year he first fought in MMA, in Brazil's Jungle Fights promotion where he was in the main event against veteran Jorge Patino. He defended many take-down attempts by Patino until being taken and controlled on the ground. Both fighters ended up outside the ring which interrupted the action. After they were stood up, referee Paulo Filho issued a yellow card against Patino for an illegal strike. The fighters resumed action and exchanged punches until Patino connected with two right hands which dazed Jacare, knocking him out. Jacare returned to grappling in 2004, where he placed second in his weight division and won first place (gold) in the Open Weight division after defeating Roger Gracie despite an injured arm. Jacare won his second MMA match when he fought French kick-boxer Victor Babkir. Babkir landed a right kick to Jacare's left leg and was quickly taken down and controlled from the side. Jacare achieved full mount and unloaded punches on Babkir who submitted to the strikes. He only competed in grappling in 2005, and won in his weight class at Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC), while losing in the Absolute Division to previous opponent, Roger Gracie. He would later win two gold medals at the World Jiu Jitsu Championships. In almost two years between bouts, Jacare's third opponent in MMA was Alexander Shlemenko . Jacare got an early take-down of Shlemenko then hit him with a barrage of punches from full mount. While Shlemenko covered his face, Jacare sunk in an arm-triangle choke which made Shlemenko unconscious. Jacare fought Alexey Prokofiev in the first event promoted by Fury Fighting Championship. Just as the bell rung Jacare took Prokofiev to the ground and landed punches. While in full mount Jacare set up a triangle choke position and ended up on his back while applying the pressure to Prokofiev. With his opponent in the hold, Jacare attacked with punches and returned to full mount. With the triangle choke maintained, Jacare attacked with more punches until Prokofiev gave up. In 2004 Jacare won the Pan Ams when he beat Braulio Estima. He later won the most prestigious gold medal in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the Mundial Absolute (Open Weight) Division. In the finals he defeated Roger Gracie despite injury due to an arm-bar. The situation with his arm forced Jacare out of competing in his weight class at the same event, resulting in a silver medal. Jacare fought in Gracie Fighting Championships and beat Bill Vucick into submission with punches. He fought and beat Jose Gomes by first round arm-bar in Amazon Challenge. A few weeks later he submitted Wendell Santos with punches early in the first round in the promotion Hero's The Jungle. Jacare fought Haim Gozali on Jungle Fights' seventh card in Slovenia. After exchanging strikes, Jacare slammed his opponent to the ground and tried to get an arm-triangle choke submission. Gozali successfully alleviated the pressure of the choke by grabbing the back of his right knee. Jacare rolled his opponent's body to get control of his back and applied a rear-naked choke submission to get the win. Jacare and Bill Vicucik fought at the Gracie Fighting Championships' "Evolution" event in 2007. Jacare quickly took Vicucik down, landed punches and elbows from side control. He fully mounted Vicucik to continue hitting with punches which resulted in Vicucik tapping the mat to concede defeat. Jacare first competed in the Japanese promotion, Dream, entering the middleweight tournament at Dream. 2: Middleweight GP 2008 First Round (2008). In the opening round, he faced Ian Murphy and ended up on his back after missing a jumping right knee to Murphy's head. Murphy caught Jacare and slammed him to the ground. Jacare quickly escaped from the bottom using his BJJ skills to briefly stand up and was taken down again. On the ground he landed many legal knee strikes to the head and tried submitting Murphy by arm-bar. Jacare continued control and transitioned to Murphy's back to land several punches before securing a rear-naked choke submission. Jacare moved on in the tournament to meet 'Jason Miller (XVI)' in a quarterfinal bout at Dream. 4: Middleweight GP 2008 Second Round (2008). Jacare took Miller to the ground often and attacked with submission which Miller escaped. Miller out-struck Jacare when both fighters were on their feet. Jacare won via unanimous decision over two rounds. Croation fighter Zelg Galesic was Jacare's opponent in the semi-finals at Dream. 6: Middleweight GP 2008 Finals (2008). Jacare avoided a head-kick by Galesic and grabbed a hold of his body and slammed him to the ground. Galesic was active from the bottom by landing punches while Jacare moved to stronger positions. Jacare lost control when Galesic pushed him off and reversed position from the bottom. Just as soon as the reversal happened, Jacare secured an arm-bar submission to win. The victory moved him to the main event to later fight Gegard Mousasi in the tournament finals on the same card for the Dream Middleweight Grand Prix World Championship. Jacare took control of the fight early by attempting single-leg take-downs, then slamming Mousasi to the ground and controlling the action. Mousasi defended and Jacare land punches from the top. A right up-kick from Mousasi knocked out Jacare, resulting in his second MMA career loss. In the main event of Dream. 9: Featherweight GP 2009 Second Round (2009), Jacare re-matched Jason Mayhem Miller for the Dream Middleweight championship vacated by Gegard Mousasi. There was a mutual exchange of strikes between the fighters until Jacare took Miller to the canvas. Miller quickly stood up. Miller caught a left kick by Jacare, pushed him to the ground and landed and illegal right kick to the head. The bout was stopped and Miller penalized with a yellow card (monetary fine). The bout resumed and Jacare later took Miller to the ground. Referee Yuji Shimada ceased the action for a second time due to Jacare's worsening head cut from the earlier foul, and declared a "No Contest". Jacare fought and outpointed Robert Drysdale to be Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Superfight Champion in grappling. Jacare moved to the American promotion Strikeforce (2006), and got a first opponent in someone he had defeated in grappling competition: Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland. When they met at Strikeforce: Evolution (2009) Jacare landed more strikes against Lindland on the feet and avoided being taken down. Lindland took Jacare to the ground during the second attempt. Jacare responded with submission holds, including an arm-bar then transitioned to another hold. Jacare landed several strikes in the position. Lindland escaped to his back where he attempted to triangle choke Jacare. Jacare controlled Lindland from top position where he secured an arm-triangle submission win. During Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery (2010), Jacare controlled Joey Villasenor against the cage and on ground after a few take-downs for much of the first and second rounds. Villasenor defended well in the first half of round three, keeping the fight on the feet and out-pointing Jacare with strikes. Jacare was successfully getting in the fight to the ground for the remaining half of the round, and won unanimously on the judges' scorecards. Jacare fought Tim Kennedy at Strikeforce: Houston (2010) for the middleweight championship vacated by Jake Shields. In a bout mostly contested on the feet as a result of each defending well against the other's take-down attempts, Jacare won the unanimous decision to become Strikeforce Middleweight World Champion. Jacare fought Robbie Lawler at Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Cyborg (2011) to defend the title. In round three, Jacare took the hard-punching Lawler to the ground and submitted him by rear-naked choke to retain the championship. Jacare's second title defense was booked at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov (2011), with Luke Rockhold challenging him. Jacare and Rockhold fought for all 5 rounds of the championship bout. Rockhold won unanimously from the judges and became the new champion. Following the loss to Rockhold, Jacare competed in ADCC and lost to Braulio Estima. He and retired from grappling competition following that defeat. At Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey (2012) to score a round 3 arm-triangle victory over Bristol Marunde. He scored his quickest victory in his next fight at Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman (2012): knocking out Derek Brunson with punches to win in forty-one seconds. Jacare was mentioned in a possible championship rematch with Luke Rockhold, but Lorenz Larkin was offered the opportunity on a card scheduled for November 2012. A wrist injury made Rockhold cancel the bout and the entire card was eventually canceled. Jacare was matched up against Larkin for a later event, however Larkin was injured in training. This which lead to Ed Herman replacing him against Jacare on the final Strikeforce card, Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine (2013). An aggressive Souza exchanged strikes with Herman and clinched with him against the fence then took him to the ground. Jacare complained to referee Mark Carter after Herman illegally kicked him in the face while he was grounded. Herman was warned and the bout restarted on the feet. Souza landed a right front kick to Herman's face, and soon ran in for a double-leg slam on Herman. Souza quickly attacked Herman's right arm, pulling it in the opposite direction with pressure to win by submission, completing his Strikeforce career with 7 wins and a loss.