The bout between Ronaldo Sousa and Jan Blachowicz is the biggest in the UFC world this week. These two veteran fighters will be the participants in the main event at UFC Fight Night 164 in Sao Paolo, Brazil. We all know who they are. Jacare is one of the most familiar faces in the middleweight category for the last decade, while the Polish fighter established himself as one of the top light heavyweight guys in the organization.
Preview
Jacare (26-7 MMA, 9-4 UFC) was one of the top fighters in the middleweight division through the years, but he never got a chance to fight for the title. Losses against Yoel Romero and Kevin Gastelum set him apart from every fighter’s dream. Sousa is coming into this match following a defeat to Jack Hermansson via unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Fight Night 150. He was supposed to fight Romero once again, but the Cuban withdrew due to illness. Jacare is one of the legends in the middleweight category, a guy whose grappling skills are almost unmatched. His biography is impressive, and just by looking at the names of his opponents, we get chills. However, that is in the middleweight, and now, he is about to make a debut in the light heavyweight, which isn’t the same at all. Over the years, Sousa lost a lot of his speed, and above all his stamina, which was obvious against Hermansson. It is why he relied upon punches more than his grappling skills in the last few bouts.
Jan Błachowicz (24-8 MMA, 7-5 UFC) was widely considered to be one of the worst UFC additions after his first several fights. But that changed radically in the recent few years. The 36-year old from Poland posted five wins, and just one loss, against Thiago Santos, who is the only guy able to beat Jon Jones in the future, and we saw that already once these two met. His latest win against Luke Rockhold was superb, and Błachowicz emerged as one of the few guys who might become a title contender anytime soon. But that is only if he continues at this pace. The improvements he made since becoming a part of the UFC are tremendous, and that especially applies to his grappling skills and stamina. His body is much stronger than before, and unlike the first few fights, Błachowicz is not running out of juice that early.
Prediction
Although many here like Jacare, we have to be realistic and say that the Błachowicz is a favorite. Why? Well simply. He looks much better currently, with his stamina and overall power at a much higher level than Sousa’s. And also there is one more factor which needs to be taken into consideration. For the Polish fighter, this is just another bout in his category. Meanwhile, Jacare is coming up from the middleweight to participate in this one. So, all of his grappling will demand more power than usual, and as we said, he isn’t fit as he used to be. Also, the Brazilian’s reach is shorter than his rival’s, and we all saw that against Hermansson, he couldn’t adjust to constant jabs, which is something Błachowicz knows how to use. There is also one more thing. The Pole knows how to knock out his rival with one punch, and strikes in heavyweight are much harder than the Brazilian got used. Therefore, we just have to give the advantage to Błachowicz. His win is priced at 0.49, which is superb from our point of view.
