Who Gets a Title Shot after Machida vs. Rockhold?

With an impressive victory at UFC on Fox 15, Luke Rockhold not only took down one of the greatest mixed martial artist in the UFC(Lyoto Machida), he also did enough to take #1 contender spot. But the man who had that spot going into the Fight Night event in New Jersey also put on quite a performance. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, who was set to fight Yoel Romero before Romero suffered a knee injury made short work of Chris Camozzi for the second time in his mma career with a first round verbal tap out. So based on their performance at UFC on Fox 15, which man deserves the title shot against the winner of the title fight between Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort at UFC 187?

Ronaldo Souza had only 6 days to train for a second fight with Chris Camozzi after an injured Yoel Romero was forced to pull out of the fight. Camozzi had been released from the UFC when he received a call asking him to take Romero's place in the co-main event. Eager to avenge his loss to Souza, he agreed to enter the take the fight on short notice. This fight was not the best thing for Souza's mma career as it would do nothing for him in the ranking if he won, and would have likely dropped him out of the top 5 in the welterweight division if he lost.

At UFC on Fox 15, Souza put pressure on Camozzi from the start of the fight. Camozzi stayed on the outside and tried to find his range against the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. After getting hit with a straight right by Camozzi, Souza decided to take the fight where he had the upper hand. With a nice level change he shot on Camozzi and took him down with ease. While on the ground Camozzi did what he could to get back up but ended up in the teeth of the "Jacare" and found himself fighting to keep his hands clasped together. While pulling on Camozzi's arm, Jacare Souza heard the verbal tap and in a show of sportsmanship quickly released the hold and secured a victory at 2:33 of the first round.

Luke Rockhold went into UFC on Fox 15 brimming with confidence. With a 3 fight win streak over some big names seemingly getting better with each fight, he made a statement with his choice of walk-in music against Lyodo "The Dragon" Machida. With Joe Esposito's "Your The Best Around" playing as he made his way to the octagon, Rockhold was no doubt sending a message to not only "The Karate Kid" but the champion Chris Weidman.

Machida started the main event bout in traditional fashion, staying elusive while trying to find his range. He landed some clean punches and moved out of the range of Rockhold. But fellow south paw Luke Rockhold landed some hard punches midway through the first round then with a slip and a push Machida was on the mat, and Rockhold was all over him. Machida would get hit with some hard ground and pound and ultimetly  ending up in a rear naked choke. Machida barely survived round 1 and would need help to get to his corner.

The second round started much different for Machida. With a closing right eye and his legs still wobbly, the former champion danced around hoping to get his wits about him but with another slip he was back on the ground. Rockhold had no problem taking the back of Machida forcing him to tap from a rear naked chock at 2:31 of the second round.

Both Rockhold and Souza showed UFC fans why they're in the top 5 of the middleweight division. With quick and dominate victories over their opponent's at UFC on Fox 15 they also proved they're ready for a title shot. But Rockhold did something in New Jersey that Jacare Souza did not...he destroyed a former champion. Unfortunately for Souza, his impressive victory in the co-main does not carry the same weight as Rockhold's performance against the last man to challenge Chris Weidman for the middleweight title.

But there are two fights that can come out of this. Lyodo Machida can challenge Ronaldo Souza to remain in title contention, or Luke Rockhold can fight Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza with the winner getting the next title shot.

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