Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has today announced his retirement from professional MMA competition, only a matter of months after the UFC announced they were releasing him from the roster. He announced the news in an interview with Combate, ending a career that has spanned almost two decades and ended with him amassing a 26-10 (1) record that includes wins over elite fighters like Chris Weidman, Vitor Belfort, and Gegard Mousasi.
He has ended his career on a four-fight losing streak that included an unsuccessful attempt at moving to the Light-Heavyweight division, and ended with his first ever submission loss to Andre Muniz that resulted in a horrifically broken arm. Now that Souza has reached the age of 41 and been released from the world’s premier MMA organization, it makes sense that he might want to call it a day on an illustrious career. While the news will no doubt leave plenty of fans sad to see him go, it’s good to see a legend remove himself from the sport before suffering extended periods of damage against young and hungry fighters.
The news of his retirement shouldn’t have come as much of a shock either, as Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has previously been open and honest about the fact that he could make more money as a successful BJJ coach than he did as a UFC fighter. Shortly before his unsuccessful last fight against Andre Muniz, he took the leap and started work on putting together his first BJJ academy. Now that he’s retiring to put all of his focus on that venture, we wish him the best of luck and can’t wait to see the level of competitors he produces!
