Fans' Nightmare: Dream 9 Rematch Between Mayhem and Jacare Ruled No Contest

The DREAM 4 bout between Jason “Mayhem” Miller vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souzo was one of my favorite fights of last year. The two world class grapplers kept it on the mat for the almost the entire ten minutes of the first round, providing fans with a dynamic grappling display that is rarely seen in today’s MMA. I don’t think the fight was stopped even once in the first round -  other than to bring the fighters out of the ropes - the action was that good. The second round was slower with both fighters struggling to take their opponent down. It was great effort by both men but Jacare’s multiple submission attempts gave him the edge that led to his unanimous decision victory.

So I was really, really, really looking forward to the seeing the rematch, at Dream 9, a prospect made even sweeter with the additional honey of the DREAM Middleweight title - recently vacated by Gerard Mousasi when he decided to move up to light heavyweight. Unfortunately, the fight was ruled a no contest after Miller cut Jacare with an illegal kick early in the fight.

The opening of the fight was mostly stand-up, then Miller caught Jacare’s heel after a lazy kick and threw the Brazilian to the ground in the corner. Miller’s leg immediately swung even though Jacare was obviously down but the kick was ruled unintentional because it seemed to be driven by momentum, a progression of the takedown.  A doctor cleared Jacare to continue but the cut started spouting blood shortly after the fight started back up, resulting in the no contest.

As the ref broke up the fight for the final time, Miller threw one last jab, albeit a verbal one: “I thought you were going to break me, motherfucker.”

That seems to have been the most effective blow of the entire fight because Jacare was pissed! Can’t way to see these two go at it again.

Ah well, at least we have video of their first bout to tide us over until the rematch.