Jacare

(Nobody makes Jacare bleed his own blood.)

Details are beginning to emerge about Strikeforce's next big card, which is slated to take place December 19th at their familiar haunts in San Jose's HP Pavilion. Though a headlining bout is still in the works, the event — dubbed "Evolution" — will reportedly feature...

— A middleweight bout between jiu-jitsu specialist Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and old-schooler Matt Lindland. Souza is coming off his chaotic no-contest rematch against Jason Miller, while Lindland hasn't competed since he was added to Vitor Belfort's highlight reel at Affliction: Day of Reckoning. The winner of Souza vs. Lindland seems like a logical choice to challenge the winner of Saturday's Jake Shields vs. Jason Miller fight for Strikeforce's brand-new middleweight title.

(Photo courtesy of 411mania.)

According to Graciemag.com, Brazilian middleweight standout Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza has signed a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce, and will make his debut at an October 25th event in Fresno, California — reportedly the same event that will see Fedor Emelianenko's Strikeforce debut. Souza has spent the last five fights of his career competing for DREAM in Japan, where he made it to the finals of their middleweight grand prix before succumbing to a Gegard Mousasi upkick, and had two contentious fights with Jason Miller. After their last match ended in a no-contest due to an illegal kick, Jacare and Mayhem were scheduled to fight for a third time at DREAM.11 (October 6th, Yokohama) for DREAM's middleweight belt. It's unclear if that fight will still be happening, though Japan MMA hears a rumor that Paulo Filho will be stepping in for Souza against Miller.
 
Souza's Strikeforce signing is particularly interesting because Scott Coker recently announced that Jake Shields will fight for the organization's interim middleweight title in October. Shields's opponent hasn't yet been announced, and Souza's first opponent hasn't been named either. You don't have to be a genius to figure this one out. The winner of the interim middleweight title fight will face Cung Le whenever Le feels like taking a break from his action movie career and stepping back into the cage.

(Props: MMA Frenzy)

Though this Monday's DREAM 10 event will feature the semi-finals and finals of their welterweight GP, as well non-tournament matches between Shinya Aoki and Vitor Ribeiro, and Melvin Manhoef vs. Paulo Filho, the lineup's still a little thin. As of yesterday, only six fights were officially announced for the card. So, the organizers are doing a little last-minute patching, adding Seichi Ikemoto vs. Tarec Saffiedine as a GP reserve bout, and Jesse "JT Money" Taylor vs. PRIDE/K-1 HERO's vet Dong Sik Yoon. The news was first broke yesterday on Taylor's official website, YoJTMoney.com (seriously), in which Mongo wrote: "JT has always wanted to fight for the prestegious Dream organization and for the warrior spirit of Japan. JT will be sure to make the most of this incredible journey and opportunity."

(Image courtesy of twitter.com/mayhemmiller. Props to MMA Mania for the tip.)

Nothing like a crude insult to get people hyped for a re-rematch. While watching DREAM.9 yesterday morning, we were surprised at the level of anger Jason Miller displayed towards Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza when their fight was halted by doctors and eventually stopped due to the giant soccer-kick-related cut on the Brazilian fighter's scalp. (The video is after the jump in case you haven't seen it.) After all, Jacare wanted to keep fighting, and it's not like he put that gash on his head himself.

Was Miller just pissed that his new MTV fans didn't get to see him beat some ass? Or was there bad blood between Mayhem and Jacare that we don't know about? At any rate, it seems like Miller wants to make things publicly personal for his third meeting with Souza. That match hasn't yet been tied to a specific DREAM event yet, though the next rounds of their Super Hulk and Featherweight GP tournaments are slated for September in Tokyo.

UPDATE: More verbal abuse from Mayhem, via TheGarv

(Image courtesy of DreamOfficial.com)

Maybe the word "epic" is overused on the Internet. Certainly we've been guilty of using it vain when "totally sweet" would have sufficed. But I think "epic" really does apply to DREAM.9 (May 26th, Yokohama) which contains the quarterfinals of DREAM's "Super Hulk Tournament" and Featherweight Grand Prix, as well as a great lightweight feature between Tatsuya Kawajiri and Gesias Cavalcante, and the middleweight title fight between Jason Miller and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza.

The show will be broadcast in North America on HDNet Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT, and while I'm not really down with farmer's hours, I might have to watch this one live (and maybe even liveblog it) — especially since it'll also represent an emotional farewell to HDNet. Right, so DREAM.9's official fight order will be...