Knee Surgery Nixed Jacare Souza as an Option for UFC 199

As far as UFC rankings go, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza should have been the one to get the call to step in and challenge Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 when Chris Weidman withdrew from the bout due to injury. That wasn’t an option, though, as Souza had an injury of his own to deal with.

UFC president Dana White appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday to announce that Michael Bisping would step in to fight Rockhold, following news of Weidman’s injury on Tuesday. In announcing Bisping, White revealed that Souza, despite a dominant performance against Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 this past weekend, was not a viable option.

RELATED > Michael Bisping Gets the Call to Fight Luke Rockhold at UFC 199

“Who makes the most sense is obviously Jacare Souza, who fought last Saturday night in an absolute dominating performance against No. 3 ranked Vitor Belfort,” White said on SportsCenter. “Jacare Souza, in that fight, hurt his meniscus and is going to need (knee) surgery, so he’s going to be out for a little while.”

Brazilian news site Combate.com later reported that Souza’s doctor, Rickson Moraes, said that Souza felt pain in his knee a week prior to UFC 198, but that they managed to control it. He further explained that MRI results have since revealed a damaged right meniscus that requires surgery. It will be a minimally invasive arthroscopic procedure to be performed on Thursday that will only require two to four weeks of recovery before Souza can return to training.

“The test results confirmed the meniscus injury in his right knee and he will undergo arthroscopic surgery (on Thursday),” said Moraes.

With Souza out of the picture, the UFC turned to Bisping, who was the next highest ranked UFC middleweight not coming off of a loss.

“The next guy in line behind Vitor Belfort is Michael Bisping,” White continued. “Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping, no love lost between these two, they do not like each other. So the champ vs. the no. 4 ranked man in the world, Michael Bisping.”

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