One day after Ronaldo “Jacaré” Souza’s manager Gilberto Faria posted a fake ad on his Instagram and Twitter pages pleading for the UFC to give his fighter an opponent, the wish was granted.
Jacaré is set to take on Tim Boetsch at UFC 208 on Feb. 11 in Brooklyn, N.Y., as first reported by Newsday’s Mark La Monica
Faria had gone on record saying he believed fighters in the 185-pound division were ducking Jacaré.
Jacaré (23-4, 1 NC) has been more or less unstoppable since debuting in the UFC in 2013. The 37-year-old is 6-1 in the Octagon with his lone loss being a controversial split decision to current top contender Yoel Romero back at UFC 194.
The former Strikeforce champion’s most recent fight was a first-round TKO victory over Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 this past May. He was scheduled to headline a UFC Fight Night event in Australia against Luke Rockhold on Nov. 27 but was pulled from the card when Rockhold suffered a knee injury.
Boetsch (20-10) is coming off back-to-back knockout wins over Rafael Natal and the late Josh Samman.
UFC 208 doesn’t scream pay-per-view blockbuster and certainly benefits from another bout being added to the card. It is scheduled to be headlined by Holly Holm vs. Germaine de Randamie in a bout that will determine the UFC’s inaugural women’s 145-pound champion.
This is the UFC 208 tentative lineup to date:
— Holly Holm vs. Germaine de Randamie
— Ronaldo “Jacaré” Souza vs. Tim Boetsch
— Travis Browne vs. Derrick Lewis
— Glover Teixeira vs. Jared Cannonier
— Dustin Poirier vs. Jim Miller
— Ryan LaFlare vs. Roan Carneiro
— Paul Felder vs. Gilbert Burns
— Nik Lentz vs. Islam Makhachev
— Ian McCall vs. Neil Seery
— Marcin Tybura vs. Luis Henrique
— Wilson Reis vs. Ulka Sasaki
— Phillipe Nover vs. Rick Glenn
