Ronaldo “Jacaré” made his Strikeforce debut on the right foot, last Saturday, in California. A two-time absolute Jiu-Jitsu world champion and winner of this year’s ADCC supermatch, Jaca used his Gentle Art skills to submit Olympic medalist in wrestling Matt Lindland. The arm-and-neck choke came at 4:18 min of the first round.
Jacaré used his Jiu-Jitsu to beat Lindland. Photo: Esther Lin
“I’m doing great, mission complete. I’m overjoyed; thank God everything went just right. I made one mistake, but I’ll correct that for next time. Aside from that, it went perfectly,” celebrated the black belt.
Besides the traditional Jiu-Jitsu, Jaca showed his striking is up to speed, too. With solid boxing, he landed some good shots on Lindland.
“I’m always concerned with all aspects of the fight. It’s normal that an athlete should worry about an opponent, but I was really focused, I was ready.”
And, after his victorious debut for the event, the 12th triumph of his career, the fighter is already thinking about the possibility of disputing the middleweight title, now held by Jake Shields.
“I think my next fight will be for the belt. For my background, I deserve it,” he told the Strikeforce website.
Job approved – One of Ronaldo Jacaré’s coaches, Josuel Distak, noticed the athlete’s evolution in his standup game. Distak commented on the strategy applied during the fight.
“We knew Lindland had good boxing; he lives in the world of boxing, the United States. We’ve been working with Jacaré for a year and we’re seeing the results. Along with Rogério Camões, we work a lot on physical conditioning and striking, because we know how strong Lindland is. We made him come after Jacaré on the ground. It went just the way we planned. He took him to the ground so Jacaré could work his Jiu-Jitsu till the submission came up,” Distak told GRACIEMAG.com.
