Kelvin Gastelum and Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza are set to meet in what could be a contest with middleweight title implications.
The UFC has announced a contest between the two will take place at the upcoming UFC 224 in Rio de Janeiro on May 12. Souza comes into the fight on the back of a return-to-form win over Derek Brunson, while Gastelum enters after an impressive knock out victory over Michael Bisping.
No. 1 contender match?@JacareMMA meets @KelvinGastelum at #UFC224 in Rio!
📰 https://t.co/tUT6UQSO5k pic.twitter.com/ac7Y1dmuTM
— UFC (@ufc) February 23, 2018
As Yoel Romero looks the most likely to face 185-pound champion Robert Whittaker, and Chris Weidman is still on the sidelines with a thumb injury, it seems the winner of Gastelum and Souza could well be in pole position for whomever is champion after Romero-Souza II.
The bout joins an already announced fight between Brazilians Vitor Belfort vs. Lyoto Machida.
The UFC 224 card is currently as follows:
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Davi Ramos vs. Nick Hein
Alberto Mina vs. Ramazan Emeev
Alexey Oleynik vs. Junior Albini
Cezar Ferreira vs. Karl Roberson