Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza making a grand Strikeforce entrance. Photo by ProMMAnow.com

News has emerged today that middleweight fighters Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (15-3) and Derek Brunson (9-1) are expected to square off at a Strikeforce event scheduled for August 18 at Valley View Casino Center in San Diego. News of the fight has been reported by multiple outlets. The main card will air on Showtime with the prelims expected to air on Showtime Extreme.

Former Strikeforce middleweight champ Souza enters this fight coming off a victory over Bristol Marunde at the ‘Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey’ event which took place earlier this year. Jacare won the fight via submission in the third round and will look to build on his momentum with a win over Brunson.

Prior to the Marunde bout the Brazilian fighter lost his Strikeforce 205-pound title to Luke Rockhold at “Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov” in september 2011. Rockhold was awarded the decision after a five round battle. Ronaldo originally won the belt in 2010 by defeating Tim Kennedy and successfully defended it once against Robbie Lawler before losing it to Rockhold. Jacare will now begin his journey back to a title shot.

Derek Brunson recently lost his undefeated status and nine fight winning streak against former UFC fighter Kendall Grove. The two men faced each other for the ShoFight middleweight championship at “ShoFight 20” on June 16 and Kendall landed a split decision victory giving Derek his first taste of defeat.

Prior to that loss Brunson had built up nine straight victories fighting on the regional circuit and for Strikeforce. He has defeated notable fighters such as Jeremy Hamilton, Lumumba Sayers and Nate James. A big performance against Jacare would be a nice way to jump up the Strikeforce middleweight rankings.

Leave a Reply