TL;DR: OP is incorrect, and why the fuck did the OP conveniently ignore Jacare's win over Mousasi?
I'm writing this on the assumption that this is about Jacare getting a shot at the winner of Bisping/Romero. Possibly because that's what people actually are expecting, and also because even Jacare says he's perfectly happy facing someone else like Rockhold while he waits on fighting the Bisping/Romero winner. If what the OP (who I assume wrote the piece he linked to) meant to say was that "Romero should get a shot before Jacare," I would think that it would not take eight paragraphs and not many people would disagree.
"During his run in the Octagon, Jacare’s list of opposition reads as such: Yushin Okami, Chris Camozzi (twice), Francis Carmont, Yoel Romero, Vitor Belfort, and Tim Boetsch -- not a bad list when you think about it, as all these fighters have had, for the most part, established careers in the UFC. Upon further examination, however, the record begins to get a little shaky."
The OP omits Jacare's best win here, which severely undermines his argument. How do you list and dissect all these dudes and miss his (second) fight with Gegard Mousasi? Did you just miss it, or is it willful ignorance?
"When compared to those other potential challengers, Jacare’s resume doesn’t look nearly as compelling."
On this point, the OP failed hard to back up. So let's take a look at the top 8 contenders:
1) Romero: seems to be getting the next shot with Jacare getting the winner, so no conflict there.
2) Rockhold: Last fight was a title loss by R1 TKO, and he had had zero defenses. There is no way he can be in the conversation about who should get a direct title shot.
3) Jacare
4) Weidman: Has lost two in a row, and is booked against Mousasi. Until he has that fight, he's coming off a loss and can't realistically be considered for a direct title shot. Even a win over Mousasi will have him 1-2 in this last 3 though, so while a convincing win might get him into a title eliminator, it's unlikely to get him a title shot by itself.
5) Mousasi: literally the only other dude you could make a case for right now. And his best win since his loss to Ronaldo Souza was over Vitor Belfort, a dude the OP dismissed as not being a quality win for Jacare because of his recent record. This puts him ahead of Ronaldo, how?
6) Robert Whittaker: best win is a R1 stoppage over Derek Brunson. He also has a win over Uriah Hall. This makes him a dark horse for sure, but no one is going to claim a win over Hall or Brunson is enough to land a title shot.
7) Anderson Silva: legend of the sport, but 1-4 and 1 NC in his last 6. I can excuse the loss to DC, but the other ones leave him very far from contention. His only recent success, is a win over Derek Brunson, which is also Whittaker's best credential, except Silva's win was one a lot of people thought was a robbery. If knocking Derek Brunson out to cap a 6-fight win streak isn't enough to win a title shot, I don't see how a close decision victory over the same man following a bunch of losses is enough.
8) Vitor Belfort: like the OP said, 1-3 in his last 4 fights. Dude needs a win.
So, OP, tell me again how Jacare's resume doesn't stack up? It only doesn't stack up if you reverse time to reverse his more recent fight with Mousasi into a loss.
