Jack Hermansson earned the biggest victory of his mixed martial arts career Saturday when he won a unanimous decision over perennial middleweight title contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.
Hermansson out-struck Souza by a total of 256-120 and out-grappled the multiple-time world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu over the course of their five-round bout that headlined a UFC Fight Night event in Florida.
The 30-year-old Swede who lives in and fights out of Norway only has one loss since 2016 and that was to Thiago Santos — a fighter that has since moved up a division and is set to challenge Jon Jones for the light-heavyweight title.
Hermansson (20-4) was ranked 10th in the UFC’s 185-pound weight class heading into the bout but that number will soon change since Souza was ranked as the No. 4 contender in the division.
Meanwhile, Souza (26-7, one no-contest) has alternated wins and losses over his last five outings dating back to 2017.
In the co-main event, former NFL star Greg Hardy earned his first official UFC victory after making easy work of Dmitry Smolyakov in their heavyweight clash.
Hardy, who decided to become a full-time mixed martial artist after stepping away from professional football in 2016, is now 4-1 in pro MMA with his lone loss being a disqualification in January.
UFC president Dana White was critical of Smolyakov’s performance after the event and questioned how exactly the Russian managed to accumulate nine wins prior to the fight with Hardy.
All of Hardy’s victories have occurred in the first round, as was the case Saturday.
Here are the full results from UFC Fort Lauderdale:
MAIN CARD
— Jack Hermansson def. Ronaldo Souza by unanimous decision
— Greg Hardy def. Dmitry Smolyakov by technical knockout
— Mike Perry def. Alex Oliveira by unanimous decision
— Glover Teixeira def. Ion Cutelaba Submission (rear-naked choke)
— Cory Sandhagen def. John Lineker by split decision
— Roosevelt Roberts def. Thomas Gifford by unanimous decision
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Takashi Sato def. Ben Saunders by technical knockout
— Augusto Sakai def. Andrei Arlovski by split decision
— Carla Esparza def. Virna Jandiroba by unanimous decision
— Gilbert Burns def. Mike Davis by submission
— Jim Miller def. Jason Gonzalez by submission
— Angela Hill def. Jodie Esquibel by unanimous decision
— Dhiego Lima def. Court McGee by split decision
[relatedlinks]
