posted August 18, 2009 at 17:45 EST in UFC / MMA Articles
Gegard Mousasi - MMA's Next Superstar?
by Nick Meyer
After Gegard Mousasi’s impressive one-minute beatdown of light heavyweight contender Renato “Babulu” Sobral, the question on everyone’s mind is whether or not he’s the next big thing in the division.
The answer to that question, of course, lies only in the mind of Mousasi, the Iranian-born, Armenian training partner of MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko. What people might not realize is that he already has 26 wins (compared with just two losses and one draw) despite being just 24 years of age.
He also just moved up from middleweight to the 205-pound division and the sudden MMA star has talked of moving up to heavyweight in the future as his body matures.
For now, he’ll have to settle for being the best light heavyweight in the Strikeforce promotion after he captured the title in his American MMA debut. It’s a good place to be for sure, but inevitably, guys of Mousasi’s talent level want to want to test themselves against the best of the best. Not only does it make sense from a competitive standpoint, but also from a dollars and sense standpoint.
Simply put, there are no fighters in Strikeforce at the light heavyweight level right now who can give Mousasi much of a challenge, nor will they be capable of drawing a big audience and further enhancing Mousasi’s celebrity status and career prospects as a pay-per-view draw.
Mousasi has an interesting challenge on his plate for the next few months already, however, as he still has to finish the DREAM Super Hulk tournament. Mousasi will be up against Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou on October 6 in the semi-finals, a fight he figures to be a big favorite in because of Sokoudjou’s weakness on the ground.
After that, Mousasi would get the winner of Hong Man Choi, the Korean giant, and Ikuhisa Minowa, a stout catchwrestler who would be a bit of a challenge but not an overwhelming physical presence.
From there, Mousasi’s best bet would be to go to the UFC to join its stacked light heavyweight division or perhaps to move up to heavyweight in Strikeforce. The latter doesn’t sound like a great option because Mousasi still has a long way to go to put on the kind of weight it would take to match up with brutes like Brett Rogers for instance.
The UFC option would be preferable, but Dana White might not be too happy about Mousasi’s promotion of the new EA Sports MMA video game. If it did happen, it would lead to some interesting matchups, however.
For arguments sake lets take a look at how Mousasi would stack up against the top 205-pounders in the UFC:
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua: Assuming the underdog Rua loses to Lyoto Machida as expected, Mousasi would probably be a slight favorite over Rua, arguably the 4th-highest ranked UFC lightweight at this point. Not too shabby for someone only 24 years old against an MMA legend.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson: With his power and higher amount of fanfare and maturity level from a physical standpoint, Jackson would probably be a decent-sized favorite over Mousasi in the Sportsbook.
Rashad Evans: The once-beaten former Ultimate Fighter has a knack for pulling out wins in tough situations like Mousasi but hasn’t shown quite the same well-rounded skill-set. Mousasi would be the favorite here.
Rich Franklin: With Mousasi’s stand-up pedigree from Holland and his superior speed and grappling game, he would be a solid favorite over Franklin, who shifts between middleweight and light heavyweight like Mousasi.
Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva: The two transcendent UFC superstars seem nearly unbeatable now. The reason is that the current generation of short-distance boxers and unrefined strikers in their division can barely get a hand on them; but Mousasi has a diversified enough game that he could give them a strong test in a couple years when he matures. Mousasi would still be a big underdog but just the fact that people actually believe he has a chance says a lot about the young star’s potential in the near future. Hopefully, it won’t go to waste in a division that simply doesn’t have enough talent right now to make it worth his while.
