The UFC has had it’s battles with weight cutting before, as evidenced by former bantamweight champion Renan Barao and former Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo pulling out of their respective UFC 177 bouts, and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza is willing to help to put an end to it.
Well at least somewhat. Jacare, who is taking on Gegard Mousasi this Friday night in the main event of UFC Fight Night 50, is more than willing to help his opponent cut weight prior to their battle this weekend. In fact, it would not be his first time doing so, as he helped Mousasi cut weight prior to their first match back in 2008 at Dream 6.
“In Japan, I helped him to cut weight and after that I fought Mousasi on the same day,” Jacare told Fox Sports. “That’s part of the sport. If he needs help this fight cutting weight, I will help him again no problem. We are friends out of the Octagon and we fight inside the Octagon. That’s part of the sport. A few months ago, Mousasi was here in Brazil and we had lunch together. We’re friends and that’s just part of the sport.”
The two men will put their friendship aside this weekend as both men hope to get a big win and stake their claim as the No. 1 contender in the UFC’s middleweight division.
With Chris Weidman defending his title against Vitor Belfort at UFC 181 in December, the winner of Friday night’s fight could potentially be fighting for the title in early 2015.
