Jacare Souza returns to middleweight, set to battle rising contender, Marvin Vettori at UFC 256

Jacare Souza is returning to his old stomping grounds.

Souza, who has not fought since he lost a very close split decision to Jan Blachowicz at UFC Sao Paulo last November, is set to battle Marvin Vettori on Dec. 12 at UFC 256. The Italian’s fitness coach, Emanuele Lochner announced the fight on his Youtube’s channel, The Scramble MMA SHOW. Originally, Vettori was set to rematch Omari Akhemdov, however, the Russian is out of the fight.

The Brazilian in Souza is currently on a two-fight losing streak after back-to-back decision losses to Blachowicz and Jack Hermansson. As of late, the Brazilian has struggled as he is just 2-4 in his last six with wins over Derek Brunson and Chris Weidman. However, Souza is always dangerous on the ground and is always in title contention given his name and what he has accomplished in the sport.

Marvin Vettori, meanwhile, is finally getting his wish of fighting ahead of him. Originally, he was supposed to be rematching Omari Akhemdov but the Russian withdrew for undisclosed reasons. Vettori is currently on a three-fight winning streak with a submission win over Karl Roberson and back-to-back decisions over Andrew Sanchez and Cezar Ferreira.

In his career, Vettori has been one of the top middleweight prospects but a USADA suspension hindered his progression up the rankings. He has also fought Israel Adesanya to a split decision which has been one of the toughest fights of the middleweight champions career.

The winner of the fight will likely get a top-five opponent next time out and be a win or two away from a title shot.

With the addition of Jacare Souza vs. Marvin Vettori, UFC 256 which goes down on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas is now as follows: