205 lbs: Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” Mousasi vs. Thierry Sokoudjou
Odds: (-500 Mousasi / +300 Sokoudjou)
In the evening’s second scheduled matchup, two of the world’s most explosive Light Heavyweights will go head-to-head in the form of “The African Assassin” Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” Mousasi. In many ways, Mousasi has supplanted Sokoudjou as the “hot Light Heavyweight of the moment”, and a win here will only cement that status. For his part, Sokoudjou desperately needs a win here to maintain some of the momentum he so excitingly captured in PRIDE.
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, an accomplished judo player with dynamite in his hands, burst onto the international MMA scene with authority. Fresh off a loss to Glover Texeira in WEC, Sokoudjou shocked fans by debuting in PRIDE with back to back destructions of Antonio Rogerio Noguiera and Ricardo Arona, two of the top 205 pounders on Earth at the time. That momentum, which he gained so fast, was lost just as quickly, with embarrassing losses to Lyoto Machida, Luis Arthur Cane, and Renato Sobral coming in UFC and Affliction. Now, Sokoudjou seems to lack a definitive place in the Light Heavyweight hierarchy. Clearly, the potential that allowed him to send Noguiera and Arona’s heads into orbit is still there, but Sokoudjou seems incapable of putting his skillset together into an effective fighting style. Unfortunately for him, Mousasi is not the kind of opponent that you use to figure out kinks in your game.
One of the most dynamic and explosive fighters in the world at any weight, Mousasi is capable of overwhelming opponents with both his potent, accurate standup and his top-level submission attack. Over the last few years, Mousasi has fought many of the best fighters around his weight outside of the UFC, and he made all of them look extremely foolish. His one common opponent with Sokoudjou is Babalu Sobral. Sobral choked Sokoudjou out fairly easy, but was completely dominated by Mousasi.
Put simply, Sokoudjou is in over his head in this fight. He may have shocked the world with two big knockouts, but now his opponents have figured out his blend of power punching and ineffective ground game. Mousasi is just a superior fighter, in every aspect of the game.
Fight Prediction: I expect fireworks in this one. Mousasi by KO, round 1.
