After a long, illustrious and successful career, former Strikeforce middleweight champion and perennial middleweight contender in the UFC Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza announced his retirement from mixed martial arts on Tuesday.
‘Jacare’ broke the news to Combate, and said despite retiring from MMA career, he does have his eyes on a return to the sport of jiu-jitsu.
Reflecting on his career, one could argue that ‘Jacare’ possesses a hall of fame resumé.
Souza’s long list of wins boast victories over a plethora of former world champions and top contenders including the likes of Chris Weidman, Robbie Lawler, Vitor Belfort and Gegard Mousasi.
While Souza enjoyed great success during the prime of his career, he did suffer a four-fight losing streak to finish off the final fights of his contract with the UFC.
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Regardless, the 41-year-old competed against top level competition throughout the entirety of his career, including the latter part of his career as well.
The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace walked away from the sport with a 26-10 record, seven performance bonuses during his time with the UFC along with a world title reign from his middleweight title victory in the now-defunct Strikeforce promotion.
While plenty of fans will miss Souza’s presence in the sport of mixed martial arts, they can look forward to his potential return to competition in jiu-jitsu.
Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza announces retirement from MMA
