Jacare willing to retire if title shot doesn't come
Ronaldo Souza's patience is starting to wear thin.
Despite his No. 2 spot in the UFC middleweight rankings, the Brazilian has watched campaigns for rematches with Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero, as well as a shot at Michael Bisping's title, come to nothing. After humbly taking fights, first with Tim Boetsch and now Robert Whittaker, to remain active, he told the media in a recent scrum he'd gladly walk away from the Octagon should his due remain elusive.
"I'm happy to be fighting," Souza said, according to MMA Fighting's Guilherme Cruz. "But I have no problem stopping fighting. I stopped competing in jiu-jitsu in 2005 when I was at the top of my career, and if I think it's too much for me, that I'm full of it, I can stop fighting. That's it. I can open my own gym, make as much money as I make fighting, and be happy. I have this dream of having my own gym, so I have no problem stopping fighting."
The top-ranked Romero remains the only man to get the better of "Jacare" in eight UFC bouts, and while the Cuban appears intent on remaining idle until Bisping defends the title against the returning Georges St-Pierre later this year, Souza is still game to take on all comers (save the surging Gegard Mousasi, with whom he's split a pair of fights).
The 37-year-old admitted he wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to take on Whittaker, however, and expressed his frustration at seeing his conquests belittled as UFC matchmakers hand him the proverbial short end of the proverbial stick.
"I'm hungry to fight, to do my job. That's not something that affects me. Everybody sees I'm excited, I want fights," Souza said. "Unfortunately, it's not the fight I wanted. I wanted Luke, everybody knows that. Everybody knows I asked for Romero too. I'll tell you the truth, the only guy in the UFC I truly don't want to fight is (Gegard) Mousasi because he's trouble.
"When we were coming up, everyone together, they said Jacare didn't fight tough opponents, Luke Rockhold fought (Boetsch), who I just fought, and demolished him. Man, I also demolished him, but now that I fought him he's nothing? Jacare fought (Vitor) Belfort in the end of his career, but how about Lyoto (Machida)? He was bad when he got demolished by Luke and Romero. They use a different criteria when it's me. When it's me winning, they come up with excuses."
Souza meets Whittaker on April 15 at UFC on FOX 24 in Kansas City.