Jacaré faces Weidman in November (Photo: Reproduction/Facebook/RonaldoJacaré)
Initially scheduled to face David Branch at UFC 230, on November 3, in New York, Ronaldo Jacare saw his path change completely after Luke Rockhold get hurt and leave the fight you would do against Chris Weidman, on the same card. As an option, Ultimate selected the Brazilian to face the former middleweight champion. Motivated for the new challenge, Jacaré guarantees that he is ready to avenge his compatriots, since Weidman gained fame as the 'Brazilian executioner' by defeating legends such as Anderson Silva - twice -, Lyoto Machida, Vitor belfort e Demian Maia.
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“I have great respect for Chris Weidman, I like him as a person and as an athlete, but I see this as a revenge, I feel like he had already defeated me before. He defeated many Brazilians and I go there as if he had defeated me too. And I never lose twice to the same person, since my jiu-jitsu days, I've never lost twice. I'm going to do my job and go after what I want, so I'm very confident”, he declared, in an interview with the American website 'MMA Fighting'.
Number 5 in the middleweight rankings, Jacaré believes that a victory against Weidman places him once again as a possible next challenger in the category. According to the Brazilian, there are no other options available at the moment to compete for the 84kg belt.
“It’s something natural for me. Whoever wins will be up there. That's a fact and I don't even need to say much about it. I want to move up (in the rankings). I want to go in there, win convincingly and say, 'Brother, I'm going to sit down and only call me if you're going to talk about the belt. Everyone is hurt, there is no one left to fight. My focus is on this fight (with Weidman), of course, but everyone knows that this fight will take me to the belt”, said Jacaré, who concluded by highlighting the importance of not leaving it in the hands of the judges, since close defeats to Kelvin Gastelum and Yoel Romeram were, in the Brazilian's view, wrong decisions by the judges.
“My fight with Kelvin Gastleum was close, I could have gotten the victory. My body language was strange in the third round and it may have mattered to the judges, I understand that, but I got more attacks. I won the Yoel romero. Every time my fight is even, I lose. I have to go out there and win, and really win. I can’t just win”, concluded the fighter.
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