Jacare Souza claims to have had an illness ahead of UFC Sao Paulo.
Souza took on Jan Blachowicz this past Saturday night (Nov. 16). The light heavyweight bout headlined UFC Sao Paulo. Many have panned the fight as it was a fairly uneventful affair. In the end, Blachowicz picked up the split decision victory.
Jacare Souza Details Pre-Fight Illness
After his loss to Blachowicz, Souza claimed to have had an illness before the fight (via MMAJunkie.com).
“I told the UFC I was coughing in a way that I can’t stop coughing, and this was 20 days ago,” Souza said through an interpreter. “We did a lot of exams and, first of all, I did treatment as if there was an allergy, and my doctor from Brazil here told (to do) a weird exam. … So 10 days ago was when I was diagnosed and on Monday was my last day taking antibiotics. I was going to give an interview, and when I did interviews I would start coughing and people would say, ‘What’s wrong?’ And I would say, ‘Nothing.’
“It didn’t get in my way. I was able to fight five rounds against a guy who was knocking everyone out in the light heavyweight division. I did my best to be here to fight. Unfortunately, the victory didn’t come my way. It wasn’t a pretty fight. It wasn’t pretty for me, it wasn’t pretty for him, but I thought I won three rounds.”
For the first time in his pro MMA career, Souza has lost back-to-back bouts. We’ll update you on what’s next for the former Strikeforce middleweight champion.
