UFC Fight Night 50: Souza vs. Mousasi Date: September 5, 2014 Location: Ledyard, Connecticut Venue: Foxwoods Resort Casino Broadcast: FS1 UFC Middleweight Jacare Souza (-210) Finally, after years of toiling in Strikeforce and DREAM, Jacare Souza (20-3, 1 NC) made it to the UFC in 2013 and he didn’t wait long to show his talents to the world. In his first three UFC fights, Souza submitted Chris Camozzi, knocked out Yushin Okami and defeated Francis Carmont by decision, and he’s riding a six-fight win streak overall. Souza is almost like a middleweight Fabricio Werdum – only better. He holds just about every BJJ championship known to man, and in recent years, he has gone from being a pure BJJ player submitting everyone in sight, to a pure martial artist with heavy hands to compliment his deadly ground game. The 34-year-old Brazilian started his career 10-1 with nine submissions in the first round, and even with a step up in competition in Strikeforce and the UFC he continued to finish the likes of Robbie Lawler and defeat Tim Kennedy via decision. He is one of the top 185lbers in the world, and if he can defeat Gegard Mousasi at UFC Fight Night 50, he could absolutely earn a UFC middleweight title shot. UFC Middleweight Gegard Mousasi (+160) One of MMA’s best-kept secrets, Gegard Mousasi (35-4-2) is a well-known name for fans of the Japanese fight scene. Mousasi has been in the backstage locker room of just about every MMA organization outside of Bellator, including Pride, Strikeforce, Dream, M-1and Bodog just to name a few, and he has dominated in most promotions. From 2006 to 2009, Mousasi amassed a 14-fight winning streak, beginning with a win over Hector Lombard in Pride and ending when King Mo took his Strikeforce light heavyweight title from him at the end of a five-round decision in Nashville. Technically, he’s still the Dream light heavyweight champion and owns notable career wins over Mark Hunt, Jacare Souza, Babalu, Ovince St Preux, and Mike Kyle in the final Strikeforce event. Mousasi transitioned to the UFC after the purchase of Strikeforce in a highly-anticipated bout against Alexander Gustafsson, but Gustafsson had to pull out of the fight after a cut over his eye forced him from the bout, so Mousasi dominated Ilir Latifi, a late replacement for Gustafsson. It was revealed that Mousasi injured his oft-troubled knee before the Latifi bout, keeping him out of action until he stepped up to fight Lyoto Machida in the main event of UFC Fight Night 36. Mousasi ended up losing a decision to Machida, but it was a respectable performance and after destroying Mark Munoz in the main event of UFC Fight Night 41, he takes on Jacare once again. Opening UFC Fight Night 50 Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Jacare a -210 favorite (bet $210 to win $100) while Mousasi opened as a +160 underdog (bet $100 to win $160) at Several Bookmakers. This is a rematch of the pair’s first fight in DREAM which Mousasi won via upkick knockout. Since then, both men have emerged as contenders at 185lbs in the UFC, with both picking up some very impressive wins in the Octagon. Jacare has fought a more consistent higher-level of opposition, though, while Mousasi has fought lesser fighters (with the exception of Machida), so even though he lost the first fight it makes sense that Souza is the favorite this time around. That being said, Mousasi has already proven he has what it takes to beat Souza and if he knocks him out again it wouldn’t be a shocker. Either way, this should be a great middleweight bout and the winners at the end of the day are the fans who get to watch it.
