Jacare Souza confirms MMA retirement is still ongoing, but is interested in boxing matches with Paulo Costa and Vitor Belfort

Jacare Souza has confirmed that his MMA retirement is still ongoing. However, a trip into the squared circle isn’t off the table.

The 42-year-old retired from the sport in 2021 following a four-fight losing streak. A technical submission loss to Andre Muniz at UFC 262 saw the middleweight great announce that he was done inside the cage. However, earlier this year, he said that he was going to box instead.

The move met a bit of skepticism from the MMA community, given Souza’s age and grappling credentials. That being said, he never had a boxing match officially set. Months later, he’s still looking for his debut.

In an interview with Trocação Franca, Souza confirmed that he is indeed retired from MMA. However, he’s still interested in boxing. Furthermore, he has two names in mind for a potential debut, those being Paulo Costa and Vitor Belfort. While ‘The Eraser’ has no boxing experience, ‘The Phenom’ is coming off a knockout victory over Evander Holyfield last year.

Image: @ufc on Instagram

“[People] might say, ‘Jacare is easy to beat, it’s boxing’ and whatnot. Doesn’t Vitor love easy money?” Souza laughed. “Just got there to beat ‘Jacare’ and go home with some money, but I don’t think this fight will happen. All respect to Belfort, I’m not disrespecting him.” (h/t MMAFighting)

“I think a match with ‘Borrachinha’ would also be cool because it’s a different generation. I’m not disrespecting ‘Borrachinha’, I just think it would be a good fight. Everybody would like it, different generations. ‘Borrachinha’ [has] heavy hands, let’s see it ‘Jacare’ can take it, that sort or thing. That would get a lot of buzz, no doubt about it. He’s still fighting in the UFC, he has a contract, I don’t know if he would leave to box. Let’s see. I think it would be cool. Ask him if he would do it.”

What do you think about Jacare Souza wanting to box?