THE ROD LAVER Arena in Melbourne will play host to an exciting middleweight bout when Luke Rockhold (15-3) meets Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza (23-4-1) for a second time.
The pair will contest the main event at UFC Fight Night 101, which is set to take place on 27 November. It will be a rematch of their September 2011 clash, when Rockhold defeated Jacare via unanimous decision to win the Strikeforce middleweight title.
Rockhold will be returning to action for the first time since his shock first-round KO defeat to Michael Bisping in June. The UFC 199 headliner was the 31-year-old Californian’s first outing as UFC middleweight champion after he dethroned Chris Weidman last December.
Jacare, a 36-year-old Brazilian veteran, will see the rematch as a chance to finally earn a shot at the UFC middleweight title. He bounced back from a controversial split-decision loss to Yoel Romero by stopping Vitor Belfort in the first round of their UFC 198 bout in May.
The meeting of Rockhold and Jacare looks set to be one of three important match-ups for the 185lbs division for the final quarter of 2016.
Bisping will defend the title against Dan Henderson at UFC 204 in Manchester on 8 October, while Weidman and Romero are rumoured to be in line to fight in New York at UFC 205 on 12 November.
