Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza’s world class jiu-jitsu held sway in the opening round. Kelvin Gastelum roared back with a killer performance in the second. The third round was a wild, back-and-forth affair.
It was going to come down to a coin flip of a judges’ call, and in this case, Gastelum got the nod. The TUF 17 winner heads home to Arizona the winner after a thrilling UFC 224 co-feature bout in Rio de Janeiro. Gastelum got the better end of two out of three 29-28 scorecards to earn the split decision.
Souza, an eight-time World Jiu-Jitsu Championships gold medalist, demonstrated why by putting on an absolute clinic in the opening round.