UFC 208's Ronaldo Souza wants title shot, but won't sit around long: 'I wasn't born to wait for others'

BROOKLYN, N.Y – After making yet another first-round statement, Ronaldo Souza was quick to reiterate his desire for a title shot.

But while it’s no secret “Jacare” thinks he’s earned his stab at the belt currently held by Michael Bisping, he’s also been very clear about his desire to stay active. And that’s why, after dispatching Tim Boetsch (20-11 MMA, 11-10 UFC) with a kimura at Saturday’s UFC 208, Souza (24-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC) clarified that aiming for the title does not necessarily mean waiting around for it.

“I want to fight the champion,” Souza said in his native Portuguese. “But if I have to wait too long, I’d rather take another fight because I wasn’t born to wait for others. I was born to make things happen.”

The middleweight bout was part of the main card of Saturday’s UFC 208 event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn N.Y. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

It took two attempts for Souza to get Boetsch to the mat. Once they were there, Boetsch – and the “many gaps in his ground game” – made it easy for Souza to eventually find the submission that earned him “Performance of the Night” honors for the second straight time.

His previous bonus-winning finish, a first-round TKO over fellow Brazilian Vitor Belfort this past May, came after a controversial split decision loss to Yoel Romero (13-1 MMA, 8-0 UFC) – now touted as the most likely challenger for Bisping (30-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC), though the champ seems to still be on an “if” basis with the possible matchup.

With the future of the strap still up in the air, Souza, who’s currently ranked No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings, doubled down on previous remarks about welcoming a rematch with No. 2 Romero.

“It certainly would be an option,” Souza said. “It’s a fight that I want. I never lost a rematch, and with Romero it won’t be different. I will prove that I didn’t lose that fight to him, and that I lost it to the judges.”

As has been the case with most of Souza’s recent public appearances, he took the opportunity to take stabs at former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, who had to withdraw from a scheduled rematch with Souza in November due to an injury.

“I think a singer sings, a dancer dances and a fighter fights,” Souza said. “We’re here to work and we work for the UFC. The UFC works with fights. I was ready to fight a top contender in November, a former champ, and everyone knows that he chickened out and ran. He’s kicking and training even more than I am. He says he has a knee injury. He doesn’t even know what an injury is. The truth is that he’s chickening out.

“And man, I’ve got to fight. What I’ve been noticing is that all the athletes who sit out for too long don’t come back well. I went approximately eight months without a fight. I was going to fight a top contender in the division who didn’t show up, who chickened out and ran. So I had to work.”

As for his unwillingness to take the “money fight” route some of his peers seem to be eyeing, Souza believes he’s not really “going against the current” with his choices, and takes satisfaction from victory whomever it comes against.

“I thank the UFC for this opportunity to work here at UFC 208,” Souza said. “Nobody here is swimming against the current – everyone’s happy to be working. I have a good salary. … Every fight is a fight, and every win pushes you forward in spite of it being a top-ranked fighter or not.”

To hear more from Souza, check out the video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC 208, check out the UFC Events section of the site.