UFC Fight Night 36 Date: February 15, 2014 Arena: Arena Jaragua City: Jaragua do Sul, Brazil Middleweight bout: Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (-470) vs Francis “Limitless” Carmont (-375) Fight Breakdown: The co-main event for UFC Fight Night 36 on FOX Sports 1 will be a middleweight contest between former Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and the TriStar product Francis “Limitless” Carmont. “Jacare” is the big favorite heading into this bout at -470 ($470 to win 100), while Carmont is the big underdog at +375 ($100 to win $375) at Several Bookmakerss. RONALDO “JACARE” SOUZA (19-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is making his third appearance inside the Octagon, following a first round TKO destruction of Yushin Okami at UFC Fight Night 38 five months ago. The impressive win followed a first round submission victory over Chris Camozzi, and “Jacare” now rides a five fight winning streak. He is one of the best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners in all of mixed martial arts. As soon as the fight hits the mat with him, it’s generally game over. He is without a doubt a submission ace and a definite finisher, as 16 of his 19 wins have come inside the distance, all but two of them being by way of submission. The pair of knockouts were over current UFC middleweight Derek Brunson and the aforementioned Okami, respectively. “Jacare” has great takedowns and takedown defense, as well, though his opponents generally don’t want to find out. He is constantly showing improvement in his striking, as is evident by his two recent knockouts. The Brazilian is well-conditioned, and I think he will be ready to go a full three rounds of action should the fight go the distance. FRANCIS “LIMITLESS” CARMONT (22-7 MMA, 6-0 UFC) will be making his seventh UFC appearance while riding an eleven fight winning streak which includes a pair of controversial decision victories inside the Octagon against Tom Lawlor and Lorenz Larkin, respectively. Carmont is a well-rounded mixed martial artist with good cardio who is very good at grinding his opponents en route to earning decisions, if not finding the submission finish. He is very big for the middleweight division, and that serves him well when he uses his offensive grappling. He often relies on in his grappling in bouts when he finds himself at a striking disadvantage. His striking skills are decent, but I feel he will be at a disadvantage in that area in this bout, as well as in the grappling, since he is going up against one of the best grapplers in all of mixed martial arts. I try to think what Carmont’s best route to victory will be for this match-up, and I’m not sure if he really has a single good route. It’s another one of those “puncher’s chance” situations, I feel like. I think the only he gets his hand raised is if he gets some sort of flukey knockout. Otherwise, I think he will be outclassed everywhere. Before, I might have said he should use his striking, but with the improvements “Jacare” keeps making, I don’t think he wants to stand with him, but standing with him will likely be is only shot at getting a win, since again, a flukey knockout is all he has to hope for. Fight Prediction: I think “Jacare” is going to get the better of Carmont every which way possible. If he doesn’t get the finish, he will get a convincing decision, leaving no room for the judges to screw up. Gabe’s Pick: “Jacare” by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Ronaldo Souza (-470) parlayed with Joe Proctor (-185) and Charles Oliveira (-600) for +118 5u to win 5.9u
