“Jacare” Souza Retains Title, Submits Lawler in the Third

Gabriel Gambino (Contributor) | January 30, 2011 | Reply

In his first defense since claiming the vacant Strikeforce middleweight crown, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza showed Robbie Lawler why he’s the champion. Souza beautifully displayed his cool, collected abilities through the worst against the powerful striker in Lawler before sinking a textbook rear-naked choke exactly two minutes into the third round.

The victory didn’t come without bumps in the road, though. The first round saw Souza get wobbled badly by multiple shots from Lawler, but wobbled isn’t enough to win a fight. Lawler followed the 5-time Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world champion to the ground, allowing the champion a chance at recovery.

“He has a hard punch man” explained Jacare at the post fight press conference, hard enough to knock him down he jokingly told the media.

Round three had Souza taking Lawler down and controlling the challenger from the top. Lawler seemed to initially hold his own, but “Jacare” proved to be too much on the ground, a place that he rarely doesn’t dominate in. Jacare truly showed what it meant to be a champion in that it doesn’t matter how you get to where you need to go, but you have to get there no matter what. He looked to be in danger of losing his newly acquired title before showing the heart of a champion and bringing the fight within victory’s reach for himself, regaining his composure and taking the fight where he fights best.

Lawler has nothing to be ashamed of in this fight as he showed why he’s one of the most dangerous strikers in mixed martial arts. His recent win over Matt Lindland set him up for this title fight, and although he did not take home the gold, he undoubtedly earned some respect and put fear into the heart of his future opponents. His performance was good, he was just simply outclassed on the ground by a former Abu Dhabi champion, and foolishly followed him down there after scoring a big knockdown in the first round. There is no doubt in my mind that Lawler will be back knocking some heads around after shaking off this loss.

“I wasn’t able to capitalize when I had him hurt, maybe should have kept it standing” Lawler explained when asked about his performance

In the post fight interview, Souza stated, through his interpreter, that he has no specific opponent in mind. He’ll fight anyone Strikeforce brings him and will fight him as soon as possible. The middleweight king has improved leaps and bounds over the last two years, significantly improving his stand up abilities, and looks to remain a champion for a while. With the exit of Jake Shields, and his title win over Tim Kennedy, Jacare may soon square off with two fighters he’s met before: Tim Kennedy or Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who will face each other with rumored title implications.

Though Jacare wants nothing to do with Miller, emphatically saying, “You kidding me! I beat this guy two times man, no more” at the post fight press conference.

If Souza can keep up what he’s doing, the Black House fighter may find himself champion for a long time to come.

Tags: 2011, Jacare, Robbie Lawler, Ronaldo Souza, Strikeforce, Strikeforce Middleweight Championship, Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg