MMAPredictions

Ronaldo Souza, “Jacare”

I caught up with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza after a Brazilian jiu-jitsu seminar at Brandon Vera’s Alliance Training Center here in San Diego on Saturday. Jacare speaks almost no English, so he kindly suffered my Brazilian Portuguese, and we were able to manage the following interview. Enjoy.

MMAPredictions.com: Jacare, how did you start Brazilian jiu-jitsu? Was that in your hometown of Manaus?

Jacare: I live very close to the academy where I train, and my older brother trained there. I would pass by and see my brother training there until one day the instructor, Henrique Machado invited me to train. So I started to train there too. On the very first day I loved it, and I train there to this day in Manaus with Profesor Machado. It’s been twelve years now. I started there when I was 17 years old. I started training at an old age.

MMAPredictions.com: And when did you receive your black belt?

Jacare: It was in 2003 on the podium of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world championships. I won the absolute weight class of brown belts, and I was given my black belt that moment on the podium.

MMAPredictions.com: Everyone knows that Brazilian jiu-jitsu is big in Rio and in Sao Paulo. Not many people mention Manaus as a hotbed of Brazilian jiu-jitsu activity, at least here in the United States. Could you talk a little bit about Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Manaus?

Jacare: Back in Manaus, practically everybody trains jiu-jitsu. I had to compete among 1,400 other tournament competitors to win the Amazonian jiu-jitsu championship. In my point of view, we are the best in the world at jiu-jitsu. If you analyze it, how many world champions have come from Manaus? Manaus produced world champions for three consecutive years. Xande Ribeiro is from Manaus. Saulo Ribeiro is from Manaus. I am from Manaus. Fredson Alves is from Manaus. Bibiano Fernandes is from Manaus. All of these guys were black belt world champions, both in their respective weight classes and in the absolute category. So in my book Manaus is number one for jiu-jitsu.

MMAPredictions.com: And could you describe a little bit about the city itself? As a whole we here in the United States don’t know a lot about the city.

Jacare: It’s a city with approximately 2 million people. It’s one of the bigger cities in the interior of Brazil. It’s a nice city. Leaving Manaus and going to Rio is not easy. You can leave Sao Paulo and get to Rio to compete pretty easily. It’s not that way from Manaus. If you want to get to Rio from Manaus, you have to pay a lot of money.

MMAPredictions.com: Can you describe what industry there is in Manaus, so we can get a better feel for where you are from? For example, Rio has tourism. But Manaus does not. What does Manaus have?

Jacare: Manaus has a lot of tourism. The city of Manaus is a city of tourism.

MMAPredictions.com: (laughs) I didn’t know!

Jacare: Many people like to visit Manaus because they’re visiting the Amazon. It has the jungle which everyone likes. It’s got the biggest river in the world both in depth and volume. The only thing Manaus doesn’t have going for it is its geographic location, because reaching it is very hard.

MMAPredictions.com: Everyone wants to know when you will be fighting MMA here in the United States again.

Jacare: That’s what I am here to find out.

MMAPredictions.com: So at the moment it is unknown.

Jacare: At the moment it is unknown.

MMAPredictions.com: And are you going to compete in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world championships this year in Los Angeles?

Jacare: I would really like to compete, yes. But it depends on how things work out in MMA for me. If something comes along in MMA I will not be able to fight in the BJJ mundials, but if I have nothing solidified, I will fight in the mundials.

MMAPredictions.com: Which do you prefer, BJJ or MMA?

Jacare: I love jiu-jitsu. Right now I am training a lot of MMA but I never stop doing jiu-jitsu. However, I already won the absolute category the world championship several times, I have fought in eight consecutive world championships and won seven of them (at different belts). So, I am looking at different things for my life right now. I really like training MMA now.

MMAPredictions.com: They are different chapters of your life.

Jacare: Yes, different chapters.

MMAPredictions.com: There are many high level Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners attempting to cross over into MMA now. It is difficult for fighters like you of elite level in BJJ to find a contract that rewards that experience, yet at the same time one has to start somewhere, right?

Jacare: It is difficult for people to find a good event that pays well. But it is good for an event to have a fighter that already has a name and has people who are excited to watch them compete. It pays a return for the event to have someone like that fighting. So I believe that the really good fighters from any discipline, whether BJJ, or wrestling, or greco, that the promoters have to take that into consideration when they make offers to those fighters.

MMAPredictions.com: Do you have anything you would like to say to folks out there before I let you go?

Jacare: Yes of course. I would like to say that jiu-jitsu is my passion, I want to thank all of those out there who have supported and helped me. I would also like to say that the United States has a lot of great BJJ instructors like Xande and Saulo Ribeiro. For me, well, Xande is the best in the world. Saulo is a great athlete whose jiu-jitsu used to be directed at winning, but now his game is very pretty to watch. Before it was pretty to watch but now much more so. He has gotten better. There’s no need to go to Brazil to train. San Diego has Saulo, Xande, Carlos Valente…

MMAPredictions.com: …Rodrigo Medeiros, Fabio Santos…

Jacare: Yes, all those guys, so all the best in the world are here, why would you go to Rio? You do not need to anymore.

MMAPredictions.com: That is why I like living here (laughs). Thank you very, very much Jacare.

Jacare: Thank you.

I saw Jacare again last night when he instructed class at Saulo and Xande Ribeiro’s University of Jiu-Jitsu. In his brand new San Diego Chargers jersey, he came up to me after class and kindly told me he remembered that Manaus also has Honda factories, Samsung factories, and Harley Davidson factories.

- Caleb

Don’t miss any MMAPredictions news! Receive postings by email!