UFC announces fight between Vitor Belfort x Ronaldo Jacaré in Brazil

The first UFC event in the country promises to shake up the organization's middleweight division and, possibly, even define the challenger for the UFC belt. Luke Rockhold. This Tuesday (19), the director of the UFC in Brazil, Giovani Decker, announced that Vitor belfort, fourth placed in the division ranking, will measure forces against his compatriot Ronaldo Jacare, number three in the weight classification. The event, which has not yet been decided on, is scheduled for May 14th. The announcement was made in an interview with the program 'Revista Combate'.

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“He (Belfort) felt that, if he doesn't start fighting, he will be left behind in line for the belt. So I think this fight makes sense for Vitor. And Jacaré is missing that big win in the UFC to get a chance at the title,” said Decker.

Belfort, 38 years old, has an MMA record of 25 wins and 11 losses. The Brazilian, who challenged for the middleweight belt in May 2015, and was defeated by Chris Weidman, hopes for a new opportunity to fight for the title, as he is the only fighter to defeat the current champion, Luke Rockhold, at the UFC in Jaraguá do Sul, in 2013. On that occasion, Vitor landed a beautiful high kick on his opponent, which won the knockout of the year award. In his last fight, Belfort defeated Dan Henderson, UFC Sao Paulo, in November 2015, by knockout just over two minutes into the fight

In turn, Ronaldo Jacare, 36 years old, also wants his chance to fight for the belt. Two-time absolute jiu-jitsu champion and former Strikeforce champion, the man from Manaus has an MMA record of 22 wins and four losses. He was one victory away from competing for the organization's title, but a controversial defeat to Yoel romero, in the judges' split decision, at UFC 194, in December 2015, delayed the black belt's plans. However, a few days after the setback, the UFC reported that Romero had fallen into anti-doping testing and Jacaré's setback should be reversed to 'no content' (fight without result).

The place

Even in an interview with the Combat channel program, Giovani Decker revealed that three cities are in the running to host the show. However, he did not want to give more details about what these possible headquarters would be.