Mousasi vs Sokoudjou May As Well Be For A Belt

Strikeforce’s November 7th card has enough talent and name recognition to rival most UFC cards. The headlining bout features consensus number one heavyweight, and pound-for-pound fighter Fedor Emelianenko against Brett Rogers. The latest announced fight between Gegard Mousasi and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou is another strong addition to the event. However, people are wondering why Mousasi’s title isn’t on the line.

No official announcement has been made by Strikeforce as to the reason why Mousasi’s light-heavyweight belt won’t be on the line, but there are many possible reasons for that decision. Some of them make more sense than others.

Some point to the fact that Sokoudjou might not be deserving of a title shot right now. If he were in the UFC, this would be true. The UFC’s light-heavyweight division is absolutely stacked full of elite talent with at least ten fighters currently on a better run than Sokoudjou. Outside of the UFC, there is hardly a more-deserving 205 lb fighter than Sokoudjou.

Sokoudjou burst on to the MMA scene in 2007 with huge victories over Ricardo Arona and Rogerio Nogueira. With such a sensational start, Sokoudjou was then matched up with Lyoto Machida, who has since gone on to become champion. In that fight, Sokoudjou was found to be outside of his depth. This was only Sokoudjou’s sixth fight, and at that time, it was simply too much to ask to beat a veteran like Machida. Sokoudjou’s road didn’t get much easier in his next few fights, as he went on to drop bouts against Luiz Cane and Renato Sobral, despite leading early on both occasions.

Despite his recent losses, his two victories over Arona and Nogueira are better than the victories of nearly anyone else outside of the UFC. The only other 205 lb fighters with better victories outside of the UFC are the aforementioned Arona, and Mike Whitehead. With so few other contenders, Sokoudjou should be deserving of a title shot if anyone is.

To further the argument, consider the other fights currently planned by Strikeforce. Jason Miller and Jake Shields will be fighting for a middleweight title with Shields only having one fight in the weight class. His training partner, Nick Diaz is supposedly going to be fighting for the Strikeforce belt at 170 lbs despite the fact that he hasn’t fought at 170 lbs in three years, and has a relatively unimpressive record in that weight class.

Sokoudjou’s recent record in his weight class looks pretty good in comparison.

But if there isn’t any issue about Sokoudjou deserving a title shot, contract issues might be the next possible reason the title is not on the line.

Strikeforce would be unwilling to put the title belt on the line if Sokoudjou isn’t signed to a long-term contract. Sokoudjou knows that his value will go up greatly, should he be victorious against Mousasi. Sokoudjou might be gambling on a victory over Mousasi. The other possibility is that Sokoudjou is actually refusing the contract terms of a title fight because he doesn’t want the contractual terms involved with having a title. If Sokoudjou wants to return to the UFC, he needs to be a free agent, because the UFC usually only signs exclusive contracts.

There is also the possibility that Strikeforce didn’t want the fight to be for a title, probably because of time constraints of the live broadcast.

Having a title fight is usually idea, especially when Strikeforce will want to bring some hype and attention to Mousasi. But because a title fight is five rounds, instead of the usual three, it is possible that there is simply not enough time on the live broadcast in the case that all four fights go the distance.

Whatever the reasons, this fight may as well be for the Strikeforce title. If Sokoudjou manages to win, Strikeforce will probably try to organize a rematch for the belt, as otherwise, Mousasi would remain a champion in name only.

The fight also will likely not need the full five rounds of a title fight anyway. Sokoudjou is a very dangerous fighter, as he proved in his victories over Arona and Nogueira. Sokoudjou’s biggest weakness is his endurance. He was winning in his fights to Cane and Sobral before he tired himself out. Once he has tired, he loses the explosiveness in his striking attacks, and becomes more cautious and vulnerable. While I’m sure that he’s been working on endurance and pacing, it’s unlikely that those problems have been eliminated entirely. Sokoudjou’s best chance is to knock out Mousasi early in the first round. Mousasi has never been knocked out in MMA competition.

By Darren Wong for FightMania.com

Tags: Brett Rogers, Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Jake Shields, Lyoto Machida, Nick Diaz, Strikeforce, UFC