‘Jacare’ responds to Michael Bisping’s criticism: I beat up the guy that knocked you out

A devastating first-round TKO over Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 earned Ronaldo Souza a shot at the UFC middleweight title, but the chance came sooner than he could take it.

Two days after beating “The Phenom” in Curitiba, “Jacare” went to the hospital to check a knee injury. He didn’t receive good news from his doctors Alexandre Campelo and Rickson Moraes, and was forced to turn down a shot at UFC champion Luke Rockhold when challenger Chris Weidman was pulled out of June 4’s UFC 199 due to a neck injury.

“Honestly, I didn’t know I’d get hurt so bad,” Souza told MMA Fighting. “I felt the pain before UFC 198, but was well trained and strong, so I didn’t train for a week. I felt the knee again during the fight. I was devastated because I did the MRI on May 16 and on May 17 I got the news that Weidman was injured. If I knew about it, I wouldn’t even do the MRI [laughs]. I had to open the black box to see what was going on with my knee.

“It was a clean surgery, and I’m walking normally now. I had to do this surgery. I had a meniscus injury, and it would definitely get worse if I didn’t do this now. I was physically well in the fight, could move normally. Everybody has injuries going into a fight, it’s impossible to be 100 percent, but thank God I had the best strategy and won.”

Souza will start rehab with his doctor and physical therapist Jackeline Figueiredo, and expects to be cleared to train in 20 days.

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