Pics! 'Jacare' Souza undergoes five-hour surgery on left elbow, targets Michael Bisping next

Lyoto Machida and Ronaldo Souza were in action at UFC Fight Night 36 last month (Feb. 15, 2014) and both took home important Middleweight wins. "The Dragon" went on to replace Vitor Belfort against Chris Weidman at UFC 173, while "Jacare" headed to the operating table.

The mixed martial arts (MMA) news was revealed on the latest edition of FOX Sports 1's "UFC Tonight," with "Jacare" undergoing a successful five-hour procedure on his left elbow last week.

And he's got pics of the bone chips to prove it.

Souza did not suffer the injury during his co-main event fight against Francis Carmont. On the contrary, the injury has been nagging the former Strikeforce champion for the better part of three months, according to his manager Gilberto Faria.

Faria is also responsible for sharing the photos (via MMAFighting.com) of the procedure below:

Yum.

Now that all that gunk is out of there, "Jacare" can focus on getting back to full health, a process that could take the better part of five months.

With Machida and Weidman locked in for a Memorial Day weekend main event, Souza has his sights set on some of the other Top 10-ranked 185-pound contenders. In particular, the winner of Michael Bisping vs. Tim Kennedy at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF): "Nations" Finale or Luke Rockhold vs. Tim Boetsch at UFC 172.

Souza narrowed it down even further for UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva, saying that his ideal match-up would be against "The Count."

If Bisping ends up being the man, "The Count" is ready:

So I can now officially add jacare to my list of people calling me out. Nice :)

— michael (@bisping) March 6, 2014

Heal fast, "Jacare."