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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza successfully defended his title for the first time on Saturday night in San Jose, submitting Robbie Lawler in the third round. But it wasn't without it's drama.
An eventful first round saw Souza take Lawler down early, and control the position in side control for two minutes of action. Lawler, however, finally scrambled out and got to his feet, and then proceeded to nearly finish the Champion.
Landing a series of punches, knees and kicks against the cage, Lawler hurt Souza, who stumbled across the cage and fell to his back. But Lawler then made his biggest mistake in the fight, opting to follow Souza to the ground instead of making him stand. He edged the round on the scorecards, but fell behind the rest of the way.
The second round was spent almost entirely on the ground, with Souza again dominating the position battle and going for numerous submission attempts. Lawler nicely got out of them all, but lost a clear round.
Even heading into the middle frame, Lawler came out tired, and Souza again took him to the ground. This time, he took Lawler's back and got the rear naked choke locked in, forcing Lawler to tap out.
Souza now looks to get back into the cage as soon as possible, saying after the fight he's ready for anyone that Strikeforce puts in front of him.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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