http://mmamania.com/2009/08/04/ronaldo- ... rikeforce/Fresh on the heels of today’s announcement that Jake Shields will be fighting this Fall for the Strikeforce interim middleweight championship, Graciemag.com is reporting that Ronaldo Souza has been added to the 185-pound roster with a — you guessed it — Fall 2009 debut.
“Jacare” is perhaps best known (outside of his ridiculous jits) for his battles with Jason Miller over in DREAM. He outpointed “Mayhem” back in 2008 and their rematch was ruled a ‘no contest’ after Souza was split open with a kick that officials deemed illegal.
No word yet on what will happen to their planned third tilt scheduled for DREAM 11 in light of this recent news.
The “Alligator” (Jacare translated) is a two-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion who placed second in the absolute division of the 2005 Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) world championships, losing to Roger Gracie by submission (rear naked choke).
He also competed against UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture in a Professional Submission League grappling match in 2006, taking “The Natural” to a scoreless draw.
After getting knocked out in his mixed martial arts debut back in 2003, Souza put together a torrid ten-fight winning streak, finishing nine of his victims by way of submission.
That streak came to a crashing halt courtesy of a perfectly timed upkick from Gegard Mousasi in the finals of the DREAM 2008 middleweight grand prix last September.
At 10-2, the Brazilian is a dangerous addition to any promotion, and should further bolster the Strikeforce middleweight roster.
In fact with Shields and now Jacare, Cung Le might want to think twice about rushing back from his hoedown in Hollywood to unify the belts.
