Ronaldo Souza displayed an outstanding performance last Friday, Sept. 5 when he submitted top middleweight Gegard Mousasi in the main event of UFC Fight Night 50.  He moved up two spots in the official UFC rankings, now at #2, just under the champion Chris Weidman and former champion Anderson Silva, passing Vitor Belfort and Lyoto Machida, both former light heavyweight champions.

What’s next for Jacare? Hoping that Weidman-Belfort falls through, per manager

Many people believe he should just wait for the winner of the UFC 181 main event, Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort for the title, and others think he should take out another top 5 fighter due to bad timing.  Jacare’s plan A is to be the UFC’s plan B.

According to his manager, Jacare is actually hoping that either Weidman or Belfort is forced to pull out, causing the main event to fall through.  He plans to go through a full training camp leading up to Dec. 6, which is when the middleweight title will be on the line.  If Belfort is forced to pull out prior to his fight, Jacare wants to fill in for him, and if Weidman has to pull out he would likely want to fight Belfort for an interim title.

UFC 181 takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on Dec. 6.  It is headlined by Weidman vs. Belfort and co-headlined by Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis taking on Gilbert Melendez for the strap.