Friday, October 09, 2009
by Loretta Hunt (lhunt@sherdog.com)
Gegard Mousasi and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou have agreed to meet in a light heavyweight non-title bout at Strikeforce "Fedor vs. Rogers" on Nov. 7 at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffmann Estates, Ill., Sherdog.com has confirmed through multiple sources.
If approved by the Illinois Boxing Commission, the three-round bout will be one of four fights televised live on CBS during the promotion's debut on the major broadcast network.
Mousasi earned the Strikeforce light heavyweight title with a first-round technical knockout over Renato "Babalu" Sobral at Strikeforce "Carano vs. Cyborg" on Aug. 15 in San Jose, Calif. The bout was the 24-year-old Armenian-Dutch fighter's first at 205 pounds, as well as his debut fight in the U.S.
Ted's Take: Mousasi should take this. He's on a roll, while Soko, although he started strong in PrideFC three years ago, has struggled, losing to guys like Machida, Babalu and Luis Arthur Cane.
Mousasi was the Dream middleweight champion before he relinquished his title to move up a weight division.
Sokoudjou, a 2001 U.S. Open Judo Championships winner, enjoyed a meteoric rise in Pride Fighting Championships with back-to-back knockout victories over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. The 25-year-old Cameroon fighter was then picked up by the UFC and went 1-2 with losses to current light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and Luis Arthur Cane.
Both fighters were entrants in Dream's open weight Super Hulk tournament in Japan earlier this year. In the quarter-finals, Mousasi submitted Mark Hunt with a first-round armbar at Dream 9 in May, before dropping out of the tournament for unconfirmed reasons. Sokoudjou advanced to the tournament final after taking out giants Jan Nortje and Bob Sapp. Sokoudjou will meet Ikuhisa Minowa in the final on New Year's Eve in Japan.
Also on the CBS telecast, the world's No. 1 heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, will meet undefeated Brett Rogers in the main event, while Jake Shields and Jason "Mayhem" Miller will vie for the promotion's vacated middleweight title. Antonio Silva and Fabricio Werdum will also face off in a featured heavyweight bout.
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