Jacaré Souza meets Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 224:

Classic grappler versus striker meeting.
Two top contender Middleweights throw down at UFC 224 in Brazil, as home town hero Ronaldo 'Jacaré' Souza faces the dangerous boxing skills of The Ultimate Fighter victor, Kelvin Gastelum. Grappling ace Souza scored his second knockout win over Derek Brunson via a nasty headkick at UFC on Fox 27 in Charlotte, while in rather controversial fashion, Gastelum managed a slick combination stoppage over Michael Bisping in admittedly a hasty turnaround for 'The Count' at UFC Fight Night Shanghai, a few weeks after he was choked out by Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217.

 One of the most elite Jiu-Jitsu players in MMA past or present, 'Jacare' Souza has once again emerged as a fleeting contender at 185lbs, after a shocking head kick and strikes loss to current division best Robert Whittaker. In his premier stint since that win streak ending defeat, Souza nabbed his second win over Derek Brunson, dating back from their first match in Strikeforce, this time, a perfectly placed right high kick before a barrage of left hands forced the stoppage. Amassing two stoppages after a narrow decision defeat to Luke Rockhold slayer Yoel Romero, 'Jacaré' stopped his compatriot Vitor Belfort and Tim Boetsch, the latter via a wily first round Kimura. Souza generally relies on his unprecedented and often unmatched BJJ to dominate his opponents, and should hold the upper hand in the possible grappling exchanges with the recent Middleweight mover Gastelum.

Since his move up from Welterweight, Kelvin has left his weight cutting woes well behind him and has established a credible 2-1-1 record, retiring Tim Kennedy, stopping Vitor until a post fight sample showed the presence of marijuana metabolites and subsequently seen the result overturned to a 'No Contest'. Next facing Chris Weidman, Kelvin found the early openings quite successful, landing clean and stumbling the former Middleweight king until a later arm triangle forced the stoppage in the favor of 'The All American'. Rescheduled to face Anderson Silva in Shanghai, a potential anti-doping policy violation against 'The Spider' left Gastleum opponent-less. Michael Bisping somehow was cleared to fight, and was comprehensively starched in the opening round via a swift straight and hook finish.

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