After surgery, Jacaré plans to return for August and wants to face Bisping or Rockhold

R. Jacaré after left elbow surgery. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram

The Brazilian Ronaldo Jacare underwent surgery last week to remove bone fragments from his left elbow, which almost forced him to withdraw from his fight against Francis Carmont at UFC Jaraguá. Using your profile on Instagram, Jacaré stated that the surgery was a success and thanked the team led by Dr. Bruno Lobo, responsible for the surgical procedure. In an interview with the “MMA Fighting” website, the manager of former Strikeforce champion Gilberto Faria revealed that the athlete plans to return to the Octagon in August and already has some opponents in mind.

According to Gilberto, Jacaré would be interested in the winner of the duel between Tim Kennedy and Michael Bisping, which takes place on April 16th, or whoever wins Luke Rockhold and Tim Boetsch. Ronaldo's preference, however, would be for a duel against the Brit. In Rockhold's case, the motivation is more personal, as the American was responsible for the last defeat of the Brazilian's career, in the fight for the now-defunct Strikeforce middleweight belt in 2011.

At 34 years old, Ronaldo “Jacaré” Souza has a record of 20 wins, three losses and one fight without result. The man from Espírito Santo, based in Manaus, won the now-defunct Strikeforce belt in August 2010 by beating Tim Kennedy. After successfully defending the title against Robbie Lawler, Jacaré ended up defeated by Luke Rockhold in September 2011, in a decision by the judges that was widely questioned by the Brazilian. Since then, Ronaldo has won all six of his fights: against Bristol Marunde, Derek Brunson and Ed Herman still for Strikeforce; and already as a UFC athlete on Chris Camozzi, Yushin Okami and, more recently, Francis Carmont.