Ahead of UFC 198 this Saturday in Curitiba, Brazil, where Vitor Belfort and Jacare Souza will square off in a fight that many believe to be a middleweight #1 contender fight, ‘The Phenom’ has high praise for his opponent.
He spoke to media members, as transcribed by MMAFighting:
“I have my eyes on ‘Jacare’ only. I’m only thinking about him. We have a lot of alligators next to my house in Florida, and I’m only thinking about ‘Jacare’.”
“To me, this is a title fight. He’s the toughest fighter in the division. It’s a great challenge for me.”
“He’s also good standing. He has evolved a lot standing. He’s a great fighter. To me, he’s the toughest fighter in the division. I saw his first steps in MMA, I know what he’s worth. We even trained together and sparred when I was preparing for a fight at Pride. I told him back then that he had a great future in MMA.”
The winner of this fight could very well find themselves fighting the winner of Luke Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman II on June 4th in Inglewood.
That is, if Michael Bisping doesn’t get the title shot first…