UFC News: Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza talks about retiring from MMA and mental health issues
Recognized as one of the promotion's best fighters, UFC legend Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza has been missing from social media and has not made too many public comments recently.
Ever since he lost his fight on 28 April 2019, he has been silent. It appears that Souza almost ended up retiring from UFC and MMA altogether.
Ronaldo Souza's last fight
The last time that Souza entered an Octagon, it was against Jack Hermansson, who was able to defeat him via Unanimous Decision. Given that Souza had defeated Chris Weidman in the previous fight, a win here might have seen the former take things to the next level -- a title fight.
Jacare Souza confesses being burnt out
In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Jacare Souza revealed that his last fight affected him adversely. He has never had the chance to fight for a UFC title belt and had hoped that a win in his last fight would get him there. However, it did not, and Souza admitted in an interview with MMA Fighting that he had only gone back to the gym to help a friend who was preparing for his UFC debut.
However, on the way to the gym, he broke down and he didn't know why.
“Three months ago, I was crying on my way to the gym, tears would come out of my eyes and I didn’t know why. ‘What am I doing, man? I’ll stop fighting, I don’t want this for my life.’”
This helped him to accept that he needed help and he consulted a professional. He went on to admit that mental health issues were not something that was accepted in his place of origin.
"Where I came from, if someone told me I was having psychological problems I would say, ‘Brother, this guy is crazy. Are you eating crap?’ I would say something like that [laughs]. I have no problem talking about it, I think it’s actually good so people identify that as well. Some people think that those who kill themselves are the ones who have problems, and that’s not cool."
Jacare Souza talks about almost stopping fighting
Souza admitted that he was going to stop fighting and had plans to build a gym as something that he wanted to do post-retirement.
"I was really going to stop (fighting). I already wanted to build a gym for me, I’ve been working on that for a while. I wanted to teach jiu-jitsu, which is something I love doing and makes me feel good. I just wanted to teach jiu-jitsu. Put the gi on and teach. That’s something that calms me down. I like it, and it helps me a lot."
Thankfully, this was not the case, and Souza is now back and ready to fight. He is expected to fight #5 ranked Light Heavyweight Jan Blachowicz by moving up a division on the 16th of November.
Credit to MMA Fighting for the interview and quotes.
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