Tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza will step into the octagon at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut against Gegard Mousasi with the intent of avenging a Dream Middleweight Grand Prix in 2008. Watch the full UFC Fight Night card on Fox Sports 1, or live stream it free by clicking this link.
The loss to Mousasi was just the second of his career, and he said he learned quite a bit from it.
"I cannot say it was a lucky move that beat me the first time," Souza told ESPN.com. "It was clever how he caught me. Every one of my fights I learn something and that fight taught me many things. One of them was that [upkick] that I need to be aware of. Also, Mousasi is a clever fighter and he needs to be the only thing on my mind right now."
Souza believes he should be next in line for a shot at Chris Weidman's middleweight title if he wins tonight's high profile matchup.
"If I win this fight, there is no doubt I deserve that," Souza said. "I am next. You look at the UFC rankings and I'm next."
UFC president Dana White, however, may not be so quick to agree. "[Souza] is definitely right there, but I'm not saying [he's next in line with a win]," White said.
"It's possible. The problem with saying he'll get a title shot is that there's already a fight set, so he'd probably have to fight again before he gets a title shot."
Full Fight Card
Ronaldo Souza vs. Gegard Mousasi
Alistair "The Reem" Overeem vs. Ben Rothwell
Matt Mitrione vs. Derrick "The Black Beast" Lewis
Joe "J-Lau" Lauzon vs. Michael "Maverick" Chiesa
Prelims
Nik "The Carny" Lentz vs. Charles "Do Bronx" Oliveira
John Moraga vs. Justin "Tank" Scoggins
Al "Raging" Iaquinta vs. Rodrigo Damm
Rafael "Sapo" Natal vs. Chris Camozzi
Chris "The Real Deal" Beal vs. Tateki "Tech" Matsuda
Sean Soriano vs. Chas "The Scrapper" Skelly
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