Jacare believes he's earned title shot, but Weidman fight 'makes sense'

Glorious as his return to action might have been, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza's place in the UFC middleweight title picture remains uncertain.

Over a nine-month layoff that saw the Brazilian nurse a pectoral injury, undergo an appendectomy, and switch camps (and countries), Robert Whittaker went from interim to undisputed champion, then to the shelf, with former foes Yoel Romero and Luke Rockhold now slated to clash for an interim crown at UFC 221 while Whittaker recovers from a recent health scare.

Jacare reintroduced himself as a contender this past weekend with a first-round trouncing of Derek Brunson at UFC on FOX 27, and while he deems the emphatic stoppage enough for a long elusive shot at middleweight gold, he also suspects he'll have to pick up another W or two to earn it.

"They are always complicating things for me," Souza told MMA Fighting's Guilherme Cruz this week. "(Luke) Rockhold just beat David Branch, who came from another promotion, and is fighting for the belt. The criteria is different with me, I always have to fight one more time. I honestly think that I have to fight one more, but why only me? Rockhold just beat Branch, man, and is fighting for an interim belt? Do you get what I'm saying?"

In late 2016, when Rockhold pulled out of their rematch with an injury, Souza made it his mandate to remain active until he got the call to fight for a title. The plan got off to a rollicking start with a first-round tapout of Tim Boetsch at UFC 208 last February, but took a turn for the worse when he suffered the injury and a second-round TKO at Whittaker's hands just two months later.

Now healthy and back in the mix at 185 pounds, Souza says that while he'd love nothing more than to fight for a championship in his next outing, he isn't opposed to sharing the cage with former champion Chris Weidman - who most recently submitted Kelvin Gastelum in July and is currently recovering from a thumb injury.

"It's a fight that makes sense. I never turned down a fight, especially a good fight like this. It would be a huge pleasure to fight him. This is the fight that makes sense now. I don't know if he's healthy because he just has hand surgery. What I know is that I'm super healthy. I'll give my body a few days to rest, celebrate my anniversary a lot more, and then I'll be back to training."

Romero and Rockhold meet for the interim title on Feb. 10 in Perth, Australia, with the winner expected to unify the middleweight throne in a dance with Whittaker.