Jacare Impressive in Strikeforce Debut

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (11-2) impressed in his debut, displaying his world-class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu technique, submitting former Olympic gold medalist and MMA veteran Matt Lindland (21-7) by arm triangle choke at 4:18 of the first round.  With the victory, Jacare won his debut bout with Strikeforce and ended a two-fight streak that left him winless for over a year.

Souza, the open weight World Jiu-Jitsu Champion in 2004 and 2005, brought an aggressive approach at Lindland immediately from the start.  Lindland attempted to apply his wrestling skills to counter the attacking strikes and Jacare was able to defend his body lock and get a clean start.  Lindland got a takedown by rolling through Jacare with a arm-pinned body lock, but Jacare was  quick to get into guard as Lindland attempted to posture up.

From that point on it was all Jacare.  As Lindland came back down and went for a mount, Jacare attempted a triangle choke that Lindland defended.  He then got lock on an arm bar and pulled it down tight.  Lindland was able to defend and break the hold, which Jacare then shifted into an gogoplata.  Lindland again defended where it appeared Jacare had his arm bent in a position that may actually break Lindland’s arm.  As the fighters scrambled, Jacare got into an advantage position locking in an arm triangle choke to close out the action.

Jacare’s performance this evening sends a message to the middleweight contenders at Strikeforce.  He showed unmatched Jui-Jitsui skills that make him dangerous at any point in any fight, especially for LNP specialist like Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields.