Located off the lower east coast of Brazil in the state of Santa Caterina, a group of gladiators are invading Jaragua. Staying True to its meaning, these warriors will do battle arena style to see who can be crowned UFC on FX8 “Lord of the Valley”. The UFC is returning to Brazil this Saturday in major fashion, and who better to headline than the mighty Vitor Belfort himself.
The prelims feature a heavy dose of rising stars in the Brazilian mixed martial arts circuit, but its the main card that is drawing all of the attention, with Ronaldo”Jacre”Souza vs Chris Camozzi and the main event featuring the former Strike Force middleweight champion Luke Rockhold vs Vitor Belfort.
First up, the Souza vs Camozzi fight has been a whirlwind of indecision and injury. Camozzi was slotted to face C.B. Dollaway, who was then replaced by Cezar Ferreira who was replaced by Rafael Natal who was finally replaced by Ronaldo Souza. Kudos to Camozzi for staying on par with such short notice, just give the guy someone to fight already. But Ronaldo Souza damn! I believe Camozzi is outmatched by the better all around fighter/athlete in Souza. Souza’s Judo background makes him a powerful striker, but his ground game is superbly in tact, as he displayed back in January by submitting Ed Herman with a nasty kimura he never saw coming. Camozzis best chance is on his feet because of Souza’s arsenal of submissions, but my money’s on “Jacre”. Souza wins by submission in 3.
Last but definitely not least is the Brazillian legend Vitor Belfort vs 28 year old Luke Rockhold. In the last two years the youngster Rockhold has beaten the likes of Ronaldo Souza and knocked out Keith Jardine on his undefeated warpath through Strikeforce before its ending. Now he’s signed under Dana White to reek havoc in the UFC. His opponent Vitor Belfort is probably gonna need as much of that Testosterone replacement therapy as he can handle in order to deal with this kid. Vitor definitely has the smarts to slow Rockford down and if he sneaks in one of those big time kicks, Rockhold will be another TKO victim like Michael Bisping. I think Rockhold KO’s the savvy veteran in round 3.
