Perennial middleweight contender Ronaldo Souza is making the jump up in weight.
On Tuesday, UFC officials confirmed to MMA Fighting an initial report from ESPN of “Jacare” moving up to light heavyweight to challenge Jan Blachowicz in the main event of UFC Sao Paulo in November.
Souza (26-7, 1 NC), a former Strikeforce champion, is looking to find new life at 205 pounds after most recently coming up short to Jack Hermansson in April. Prior to that, Souza traded wins and losses dating back to April 2017. To date, the Brazilian has finished 22 of his 26 professional victories, including submission wins over Gegard Mousasi, Robbie Lawler, Tim Boetsch and Ed Herman as well as (T)KO wins over Chris Weidman, Vitor Belfort, Derek Brunson and Yushin Okami.