Ronaldo Souza

Ronaldo Souza

Ronaldo Souza dos Santos is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and submission grappler, competing in the UFC’s Light Heavyweight division. He is an eight-time World Jiu-Jitsu Champion, including gold medals in the Openweight class in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Souza is also the former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, and has also formerly competed for DREAM, and Jungle Fight.

About Ronaldo Souza in brief

Summary Ronaldo SouzaRonaldo Souza dos Santos is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and submission grappler, competing in the UFC’s Light Heavyweight division. He is an eight-time World Jiu-Jitsu Champion, including gold medals in the Openweight class in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Souza is also the former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, and has also formerly competed for DREAM, and Jungle Fight. He has victories over 3 former UFC champions, Robbie Lawler, Chris Weidman, and Vitor Belfort. He made his mixed martial arts debut on September 9, 2003 at Jungle Fight’s inaugural event where he lost to Jorge \”Macaco\” Patino by KO at 3: 13 into the first round. In 2008, Souza signed with Japanese MMA-promotion DREAM and was scheduled to participate in the 2008 DREAM Middleweight Grand-Prix. The fight was called no contest due to an illegal kick to the head that opened up a gash on Souza’s head. In 2009, he made his Strikeforce debut on December 19, 2009 at Strikeforce: Evolution with a first-round submission win over Matt Lindland via arm-triangle choke.

In 2010, he faced Joey Villaseñor at DREAM 9 and won via arm triangle choke. He then went on to fight Anderson Silva at UFC 97 at UFC Fight Night 97 at Leicestershire, leaving Silva as the No. 1 contender for the UFC Heavyweight title. In 2011, he fought Leitesites Leites and won by unanimous decision. In 2012, he lost his fight against Gegard Mousasi in the finals of DREAM 4. He was knocked out early in the firstround by an upkick as he attempted to dive past Mousasi’s guard to land a strike of his own. In 2013, he won a rematch with Jason Miller at Dream 9 after Miller vacated the DREAM middleweight title when moving up to Light Heavyweights. He lost the fight by a rear-naked choke submission in the second round. His last fight was on May 15, 2013 at D Dream 9, where he won by a second-round armbar submission.