Roger Gracie Confirms Move to Middleweight; Signs with Team Blackhouse

In a move that many fans were calling for following his loss to "King Mo" Lawal, Roger Gracie and his manager Ed Soares confirmed with Ariel Helwani that he intends to move to middleweight for his next bout.

Gracie will now have some of the best training partners in the world like Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, and the Nogueira brothers to prepare himself for his next MMA bout.

The grappling champion hasn't been seen inside a cage since his KO loss to "King Mo" last September.

A move to 185 pounds will even up the obvious strength disadvantage Gracie had at 205 pounds, but will also give him a considerable length advantage as the BJJ black belt stands at a very lanky 6'4".

There are a number of possibilities for Gracie at middleweight in Strikeforce.

He is coming off a loss so the promotion may way want to give him an easier fight to get him back on track. They could also match him up against someone like Robbie Lawler, who's an established name and would be at an extreme disadvantage against Gracie on the ground.

However, the real matchup fans are hoping to see is Gracie vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza.

The two have met each other on the grappling mats on many occasions. The most controversial meeting between the two took place in 2004.

Gracie was able to injure Souza's arm but saw him stall out the remaining time to win on points.

Souza is already under Blackhouse management but trains at X-Gym, which does leave open the possibility of a match against Gracie.

Regardless of whether or not the dream MMA match between the grappling stars comes together, the Strikeforce middleweight division just got a lot more interesting.