Ronaldo 'Jacare': 'I should have already fought for the UFC middleweight title'

Undefeated in the UFC after three wins in three bouts, Ronaldo Souza shared with Bloody Elbow his thought that he should already have had his chance to fight for the Middleweight belt, according to the official rankings of the organization. Seeking his title shot, the 185-pounder contender will face Gegard Mousasi in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Mousasi vs. Souza, on September 5.

"Based on the divisional ranking, I believe that I should already have fought for the title. I think that I'm close to my goal, which is fighting for the belt, but I don't think much about it, I have to beat Mousasi first."

After winning fights against Chris Camozzi, Yushin Okami and Francis Carmont, "Jacaré" saw Lyoto Machida being defeated by the champion Chris Weidman, on July 5, and Vitor Belfort having a fight for the belt scheduled for December 6.

Today, the three-time world Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion is in 4th in the MW ranking, below of Machida, Belfort and Anderson Silva. However, despite his interest in fighting for a title, the former Strikeforce 185-pound champ says that his only focus is on his upcoming rival.

"I'm sincerely not thinking about secondary things. I need to beat Mousasi, that is my main goal right now. I'm not thinking about a next opponent. Of course, my final goal is winning the belt. But, firstly, I have to win this bout."

In this rematch against Mousasi, "Jacare" knows the difficulty of the challenge that he will have.

"I expect a tough fight. I'm preparing for that, to fight five rounds, although my objective is to finish it before. I think that will be a great show, maybe the "Fight of the Night" and one of the best of the year. He's a hard opponent, he has a solid game on the ground and on his feet, but I'm ready for the challenge. I don't count our first fight because it was so many years ago, it was just another in my career. This one will be hard and will drive me to a title shot."

Fighting for the Dream Middleweight title on September of 2008, "Jacare" was knocked out by Mousasi in the first round of the bout. After that, Souza won ten times, lost only once and had also one No Contest.