Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: Weathering the Storm

There is plenty to be won and plenty to be lost Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA.

Fedor Emelianenko will not only attempt to stave off his greatest challenge in years and preserve his status of the world’s top heavyweight, but in the process of doing so, keep Affliction afloat as the upstart promotion continues to chug forward.

In a battle of UFC castaways, Matt Lindland and Vitor Belfort will aim to see which veteran is one step closer to solidifying a comeback and Gilbert Yvel will just try to let his skill set take precedence over his sideshow.

And then, there’s Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.

In the first half of 2007, few fighters turned as many heads as the Cameroon native. After a one-off stint in the WEC, Sokoudjou rebounded with a pair of jaw-dropping upsets over then-top-10 light heavyweights Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona.

Two years later, things have really evened out for “The African Assassin,” who has since dropped two of his past three fights—all within the caged confines of the UFC—and is fresh off receiving his walking papers from the world’s top fight promotion.

Few things are as deprecating in sports as being labeled a “fluke,” and now Sokoudjou is faced with the task of dodging that venomous title, when he squares off with the always-dangerous Renato “Babalu” Sobral at “Affliction: Day of Reckoning.”

In one of Saturday’s more intriguing bouts, Sobral and Sokoudjou come to blows after going in the opposite direction for the past two years.

When Sokoudjou broke onto the PRIDE scene, “Babalu’s” scene with the UFC was in its dwindling stages.

Just one week after Sokoudjou’s 23-second stunner over Nogueira, Sobral was on the receiving end of his own shocking upset as he was knocked loopy by Jason Lambert at UFC 68—which in hindsight, is a horrendous, head-scratching loss, as Lambert hasn’t won a fight since.

Sokoudjou’s stock skyrocketed following his performances in PRIDE, with many MMA outlets pegging the Team Quest product as a top-10 light heavyweight. An honor once touted by Sobral, the Brazilian’s career took another hit following his controversial choke out of David Heath at UFC 74, an incident that had Sobral released from the UFC just five days later.

Things have turned around for both fighters, as Sobral rides into Saturday’s contest on a four-fight winning streak, including a victory over Bobby Southworth in November that would land the Gracie Barra product the Strikeforce light heavyweight title.

We’ve already touched upon Sokoudjou’s abrupt UFC run, but now the question remains as to whether or not his luster has worn off entirely.

Losses to Lyoto Machida and Luis Cane are nothing to scoff at, but a loss to Sobral puts the 5-3 Sokoudjou dangerously close to the dreaded .500 mark. He enters Saturday’s contest as an underdog and most have pinned it down to Sokoudjou needing to do one thing: avoid the ground game at all costs.

With 16 of his 31 victories coming by way of submission, Sobral’s black belt-caliber jiu-jitsu is poison for Sokoudjou, who in the brief time spent on his back, hasn’t shown much in the way of defense.

Machida managed to wrangle Sokoudjou onto his back on two separate occasions during their UFC 79 outing and while Machida slowly worked either to improve his positioning or attempt an eventual fight-ending arm triangle submission, Sokoudjou did little in the way of attempting a sweep or even trying to strike off his back.

As methodical as Machida may be, Sobral is not only far more aggressive on the ground—both from the top and the bottom—but possesses legitimate finishing ability. Sobral may not have tapped Mike Whitehead in his Affliction debut last July, but Whitehead is a near-30-fight veteran who has never been submitted. Furthermore, it was Sobral’s first decision win since 2004.

Still, every fighter—from Anderson Silva all the way down to Jules Bruchez—has flaws and Sobral has been known to possess a questionable chin. Three of Sobral’s four losses in the UFC came by way of knockout and the Brazilian has shown a tendency to get a bit lazy with his striking.

Look no further than Sobral’s last two losses when he opted to swing blindly at Chuck Liddell and was subsequently dropped to the mat in a matter of moments, and when he made the same tactical mistake twice against Lambert, attempting a standing knee strike while leaving his head completely exposed for an overhand punch.

It’s the same kind of carelessness that Sokoudjou can take advantage of and if he is to do so. It’s probably in his best interests to do it early on, as the Cameroon native has shown suspect cardio, especially in his last fight against Luis Cane.

Sokoudjou’s style, while potent, is very taxing and the amount of energy he exerts on each punch and each kick has caused him to tire very easily. Cane weathered an early storm from Sokoudjou and half-way through the first round of their fight, Sokoudjou was already spent and fought at a far more tepid pace.

In the end though, perhaps it could all come down to a change in environment. It’s hard to fathom that training at Team Quest would somehow have Sokoudjou ill-prepared to tackle the nuances of fighting in a cage, but the fact stands that Sokoudjou is undefeated when competing in a ring.

A cage does play to the advantage of someone with Sobral’s style and it will no doubt make for a notable bullet point to see if the change in atmosphere could have been what plagued Sokoudjou during his UFC run.

Still, be it cage or ring, the time is now for Sokoudjou to prove his worth. Some say he peaked a bit too early and unfortunately for him, beating Nogueira and Arona amounted to a step-up in competition for Sokoudjou.

That’s a tall order for someone who at the time, entered the UFC with only five professional fights under his belt, but  Sokoudjou has shown that as fast as your stock can rise, it can fall just as easily.

The question remains: How will he weather the storm?