Jacare Souza is still the Champ, submits Robbie Lawler in Round 3
Posted on January 29, 2011, 10:17 PM by Anton GurevichStrikeforce Middleweight Champion Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza successfully defended his title, with an impressive Rear Naked Choke submission victory over "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler. The challenger was the first one to hit the target in the fight, as Robbie Lawler hurt Jacare with a flying knee, then dropping the Brazilian with a perfectly-executed Striking combination. Lawler followed Jacare to the ground, but was unable to finish the fight.
Jacare had a clear gameplan of taking the fight to the ground, and that's exactly what he did. Souza took Robbie Lawler down at the start of Round 2, controlling the action with ground and pound and submission attempts. Lawler managed to survive the second round, but it was clear that he has not much to sell against Jacare out of his comfort zone on the feet.
The Brazilian followed the same pattern in Round 3, as Robbie Lawler once again found himself on the ground. This time Jacare quickly took the back of "Ruthless" before locking a tight Rear Naked Choke at the 2:00 minute mark. Souza is 14-2 in his MMA career, losing only to Gegard Mousasi two years ago, and to Jorge Patino in his first MMA fight.
Comments
wanted it happening in the first lol, but meh.
lawler probably got the worst td defense of strikeforce mw division
Souza transitions on the ground so fast its unreal!
Jacare vs Maia would be a sick fight!'
His celebration was so cool lol.
@Keith Ya, Jacare didnt stall once on the ground kept hitting him and transitioning and went for subs whenever he could...Lawler has great striking but he needs to work on his sub defense but I guess its hard to stop a world class grappler like Jacare from subbing you
Souza is fascinating to watch on the ground, great transitions. This is what real ground work should be like. Pure class. Strikeforce keeps putting on great fights, or maybe the fighters are willing to go that much extra for Strikeforce, either way it works out for the fans. Although i wish there were more fights on the main card, but all were finishes in spectacular, how can you not be happy for MMA when this happens.??
Souza should be in the UFC Strikeforce has nothing to offer him, but bums. Great BJJ
agree with you there, souza and r.g. should go UFC. Im not arguing orgs here, but i think the UFC has the best comp. to offer for them both. and id love to see those fights.
Financially, Jacare Souza might be better off joining the UFC, but as as fan, I'd much rather see him fight in Strikeforce. Strikeforce's cards are exciting to watch because their fighters don't have to fight NOT to lose.
agree besides the more fighters stay at SF the bigger it will get , not every figther that is great should join the UFC!
i would be more happy having 2 top organizations than UFC controlling all
i dont see it like that. there should be more SF level orgs, then the best of the best fight in the UFC. should they go on a losing streak there, they drop back to one of the others and then work their way back up. Kindda how it is now, but there needs to be more than just SF. plus i love elbows on the ground. WTF S.F.
I don't like elbows on the ground. Some people use them just to cut people and get a win, not a fan. I agree with Bus, get rid of elbows and bring back knees, you'll see a lot less wrestlers.
Was a really good fight, better then most people thought it would be I think. Lawler showed some good submission defense and his takedown defense is not that bad, Jacare's takedowns are pretty much world class at this point and he is easily one of the most well rounded fighters in mma.
souza's guard passes were a beautiful thing to watch. and the way he was able to transition from one armbar to another to a triangle attempt, it was a majestic grappling performance! props to lawler for holding out on the ground for as long as he did, he has much better sub defense than i'd originally given him credit for. who knows how the fight might have gone had he not have followed jacare to the ground in the 1st...but that's what makes mma so great i guess .jacare is the deserved champ and long may he reign.