Jack Hermansson competed in the main event of UFC Fight Night Fort Lauderdale, defeating Ronaldo Souza by unanimous decision.
A victorious Hermansson hopes the win will put him in the UFC Middleweight Title conversation going forward.
“I think they should be talking about me,” Hermansson said after the event (via Fernanda Prates & Matt Erickson of MMA Junkie). “When is Jack going to get a title shot? What do I have to do to get one? And that’s what I’m interested about. That’s what I’m going to ask the UFC. What do I have to do? Who do I have to beat? Is it that guy, is that guy? Give me that guy. I want to beat him and I want to get the title. I think me saving this card and taking this fight on short-notice, I think I should get rewarded for that, as well. But I want to beat the best guys. When I get to that title, I want everybody, all of the fans, to really believe that I deserve it. Because, when I win the title, I want people to recognize me as the best fighter in the world and nothing less.”
Hermansson has now won four straight fights under the UFC banner and is sitting at #10 in the UFC middleweight division rankings.
The fighter also believes that following through on his gameplan is what lead to the unanimous decision win.
“The gameplan was to mix it up,” Hermansson said. “Later in the rounds, I got a little bit tired, so I didn’t have the drive in my takedowns – because I wanted to fight even more on the ground than we actually were. It was really really close there in the first round. I was close to finishing that guillotine choke there, and ‘Jacare’ showed how great he is because I would have finished nine out of 10 guys down there, but I didn’t finish him.”
It could be awhile before Hermansson gets in the title shot line as UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker and UFC Interim Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya are expected to clash in a unification bout later this year.
