6. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
It's nice to see the tremendously underrated “Jacare” finally get some recognition on these lists. I had him as the sixth greatest middleweight ever on my own list, but a lack of votes from others left him off that list entirely. Souza was arguably in his prime in Strikeforce and was very close to perfection, only being upstaged by the man I ranked first. Of course, Souza was one of the very greatest BJJ practitioners of the time, seamlessly transitioning it into MMA, in part thanks to his fantastic wrestling skills. However, he didn't neglect the stand-up, gradually becoming an excellent kickboxer, with especially sharp, technical, and powerful punches. Souza began his Strikeforce career with a first-round submission of Matt Lindland, an Olympic wrestling silver medalist and the greatest middleweight never to be champion of a major organization. Souza then won a dominant decision over tough contender Joey Villasenor, then won a competitive bout against Tim Kennedy over five rounds to win the Strikeforce middleweight title. He choked out future UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler in the third round to end a great match and defend his crown. However, Souza was shockingly defeated by Luke Rockhold in his next outing, a ridiculously close contest that practically everyone scored 48-47 for one of the fighters...with the exception of cageside judge Bruce Snell, naturally. “Jacare” would then win his last three bouts for Strikeforce, submitting Bristol Marunde and Ed Herman, and adding a gorgeous highlight-reel head kick knockout of Derek Brunson in 41 seconds, showing his growth as a striker. Thus, Souza ended his Strikeforce career 7-1, including a stint as champion. While Souza might have been a tiny bit worse than Rockhold, he was better than any of the UFC middleweights at the time, including its champions. Souza knocked out Chris Weidman when they fought in 2018, both past their primes, though I would still have given the Brazilian an advantage had they fought between 2011 and 2013, if not as large of one. And if Chael Sonnen very nearly defeated Anderson Silva with takedowns and top control, Souza's much better grappling would have done the trick, and possibly even elicited a tap. Souza also had much better striking and defense than Sonnen, and there is zero chance Silva would have tapped him from the bottom. “Jacare” would go on notching superb wins in the UFC, but in one of the great tragedies of the sport, he never received a crack at the middleweight belt.
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