Ronaldo Souza's title chances were dashed Dec. 12 at UFC 194 in Las Vegas, where Yoel Romero defeated him via split decision, snapping an eight-fight winning streak in the process.
According to Souza's manager, Gilberto Faria, that loss – and the circumstances surrounding it – left Souza with a bad taste in his mouth.
"We still have not digested the judges' decision," Faria told Ariel Helwani in a statement that was aired Wednesday evening on UFC Tonight. "Romero played dirty. If you look at the footage, he held the fence twice to avoid the takedown sequence in the second round and poked Jacare's eyes in the third."
According to Faria, Romero also told Souza inside the cage before the judges' decision that he thought "Jacare" would take home the victory, Helwani reported. Because of this perception, Souza is eyeballing a fourth round with Romero for his next outing.
If that bout doesn't come to fruition, however, Souza mentioned he is also interested in a matchup with the recently dethroned Chris Weidman.
After a 13-0 start to his professional MMA career that saw him capture and thrice defend the UFC middleweight title, Weidman lost to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194 in the evening's co-main event via fourth-round TKO.
According to Faria, Souza has begun training again, and he is looking to face either Romero or Weidman by the end of March or April.