Ronaldo Souza earned bragging rights in the only Brazilian vs. Brazilian fighter on the main card of UFC 198, and just may have earned himself a title shot in the process.
"Jacare," a former Strikeforce middleweight champion, rolled over former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort on Saturday night in Curitiba, rendering him a bloody mess before earning the TKO win at 4:38 of the opening round of the co-feature bout.
Souza (23-4, 1 NC), an eight-time World Jiu-Jitsu Championships gold medalist, didn't need long to get Belfort to the mat, then start reigning down punches and elbows. The fight was briefly stopped as the cageside doctor checked the wicked cuts on Belfort's face.
More Coverage: UFC 198 Results | UFC news
Belfort was cleared to continue, but things didn't get any better from there. Souza once again found himself in a dominant position and once again laid down the ground and pound, at one point look up at the referee to see if he was going to call it off. Eventually, the bout was waved off.
Souza's victory was ninth in his past 10 fights. He hopes to get a shot a Luke Rockhold, who beat him for the Strikeforce bout, after Rockhold's UFC 199 fight with Chris Weidman.
"I'm going to finish Luke Rockhold," Souza said.
Belfort (25-12) has dropped two of his past three fights.