'Jacare' wins unanimous decision over Villasenor
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza showed off his grappling and striking sjills in a 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 unanimous decision win over Joey Villasenor at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery in St. Louis on Saturday night.
In the first round, Jacare started strong by mounting Villasenor, punishing Villasenor with several strikes. Villasenor got out, but Jacare took him down again, and again, landed a ton of huge punches. After they stand up, Jacare brings it back to the ground with a big slam.
The second started out with another Jacare takedown and was dominated by Jacare's strong grappling. Villasenor managed to get back to his feet a few times, but was always immediately taken back to the ground.
Villasenor finally avoided the Jacare takedown in the third round. As a result, he was able to land some punishing strikes until Jacare again took him down. They grappled until the referee stood them up, giving Villasenor to strike for a bit until Jacare shot in for one last takedown.
Jacare, the vaunted BJJ expert, showed that his game is more than submissions. With this win, he set himself up as the logical challenger for Jake Shields' middleweight belt. The loss for Villasenor breaks a four-fight winning streak.
