Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, one of the top grapplers to compete in MMA, is walking away from the sport after announcing his retirement.
Souza, 41, spoke to Combate in Brazil and revealed the news of his retirement. He is opening a gym in Orlando, Florida, and is leaving the door open to compete in jiu-jitsu tournaments.
He was an eight-time World Jiu-Jitsu champion competing in the under 82 and under 88-kilogram divisions, while also winning gold in the Absolute division from 2001-05. He was an ADCC gold medalist in 2005 and 2009.
His MMA career began in Brazil in September 2003 where the future Strikeforce champion was knocked out in his debut fight for Jungle Fight.
“Jacare” would rebound and win his next seven fights before joining DREAM and competing in their Middleweight Grand Prix in 2008. Souza made it to the final and lost to Gegard Mousasi after being struck by an upkick.
In late 2009, he debuted for Strikeforce in the U.S. and won the vacant 185-pound title in his third fight with the promotion beating Tim Kennedy by unanimous decision in August 2010.
After one defense against Robbie Lawler, he lost the title to Luke Rockhold in September 2011 by decision.
In 2013, he moved to the UFC after Strikeforce dissolved and earned wins against Chris Camozzi (twice), Yushin Okami, Francis Carmont, and avenging the loss to Mousasi.
In December 2015, he lost a controversial split decision to Yoel Romero at UFC 194 that saw Romero blatantly grab the cage at one point. It was an important fight as the winner was expected to fight for the middleweight title. After the fight, Romero failed an out-of-competition test that he successfully proved was from a tainted supplement and won a judgment against the supplier.
Souza settled into a gatekeeper role at middleweight with wins against Vitor Belfort, Tim Boetsch, Derek Brunson, and his last UFC victory coming against former champion Chris Weidman in November 2018.
He went on a four-fight losing skid beginning in April 2019 with losses to Jack Hermansson, Jan Blachowicz (his lone UFC fight at light heavyweight), Kevin Holland, and breaking his arm when he was submitted by Andre Muniz in his final fight on May 15, 2021.
He had a fan-friendly style that led to seven UFC performance bonuses including two Fight of the Night honors when he competed against Kelvin Gastelum and Weidman.
Souza was a high-level fighter that successfully transitioned his world-class grappling into MMA and developed his striking to compete and beat some of the top middleweights in the world. For a time period, many believed he was the top middleweight in the world, even though he never won the UFC championship.
He retires with a record of 26 wins, 10 losses, and 1 no contest.
