The UFC returns this weekend with its latest offering on ESPN+ for a card in Florida headlined by a middleweight scrap between Brazilian submission (and recently knockout) machine Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza taking on Jack Hermansson in Sunrise, Florida on Saturday night.
Hermansson, a Swedish mixed martial artist and former Cage Warriors champion, comes into the bout on the back of a 6-2 run in the UFC (19-4 overall) including wins against David Branch and Thales Leites on short notice, replacing Yoel Romero who was removed from the bout when it was revealed he was suffering from pneumonia.
‘Jacare’, meanwhile, is a former Strikeforce champion but remains one of the 185-pound division’s most experienced fighters yet to receive a title shot. Comments from the 39-year-old prior to the fight suggest that, if he wins and a title shot is not handed to him, he would consider retiring from the sport.
Elsewhere on the card former NFL player Greg Hardy returns to action after suffering defeat on his UFC debut. He faces Russia’s Dmitry Smolyakov, a fighter who has only been outside of the first round once in his 10 fight professional career.
Mike Perry also returns to face Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira, last seen in December receiving a huge gash to the forehead just prior to tapping to a Gunnar Nelson rear-naked choke.
The above fighters, as well as everyone else of the 13-fight card, all successfully made weight at Friday’s weigh-ins in Florida.
The results are below:
MAIN CARD
Ronaldo Souza (185.5) vs. Jack Hermansson (185)
Greg Hardy (264.5) vs. Dmitrii Smoliakov (262)
Alex Oliveira (171) vs. Mike Perry (171)
Ion Cutelaba (205) vs. Glover Teixeira (205.5)
John Lineker (135) vs. Cory Sandhagen (135)
Thomas Gifford (156) vs. Roosevelt Roberts (155)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Takashi Sato (170.5) vs. Ben Saunders (170.5)
Andrei Arlovski (247) vs. Augusto Sakai (264)
Carla Esparza (115) vs. Virna Jandiroba (115.5)
Gilbert Burns (156) vs. Mike Davis (155)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Jason Gonzalez (156) vs. Jim Miller (155.5)
Jodie Esquibel (116) vs. Angela Hill (115.5)
Dhiego Lima (171) vs. Court McGee (170.5)
