Gegard Mousasi Is For Real

He continued to fly under that radar though because he never made shock waves in the mainstream or any big promotions. He previously fought in top MMA Promotions such as Pride FC, Bodog, and DEEP, but never really made a name for himself until he made the transition to the Japanese Promotion DREAM.

Mousasi has been known for his attitude to take on any challenger that is thrown his way and to fight as many times as possible per year. For instance, he fought seven times in 2005 and only lost one of those fights courtesy of Petrak Markevicius.

Then in 2006, he fought six times with his only loss coming at the hands of Akihiro Gono. In 2008, he fought six times yet again including twice in one night, but this time he went undefeated.

Gegard Mousasi participated in the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament to crown the first ever DREAM Middleweight Champion. Here he was considered an underdog in almost all of his fights but ended up defeating Denis Kang, Dong Sik Yoon, Melvin Manhoef, and Ronaldo Souza to capture the Middleweight Championship.

Mousasi continued to test his abilities by participating in the DREAM Super-Hulk Open Weight Tournament in which he defeated Mark Hunt whom out-weighed him by over 80 pounds.

He is set to continue his run in the Super-Hulk Tournament on October 2nd at DREAM 11 when he faces former UFC & Affliction Light-Heavyweight Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. If successful, he will go on to face the winner of Hong Man Choi & Ikuhisa Minowa.

This past weekend at Strikeforce's Carano vs. Cyborg Event, Gegard Mousasi made his United States debut by facing Ex-UFC star Renato "Babalu" Sobral for Stikeforce's Light-Heavyweight Championship. Without even breaking a sweat, he mauled the sixth ranked Light-Heavyweight in only one minute. With that victory, he forced the world and the mainstream audience to pay attention to the rising star known as "The Armenian Assassin."

Although having a very impressive 26-2-1 record at only twenty-four years of age, the Armenian already has victories over some of the biggest names in MMA today under his belt.

However looking into the future at potential challengers for Mousasi, the list is very bleak since the top Light-Heavyweights in the world are under contract to the UFC. The fact that he took out Strikeforce's Top Light-Heavyweight with ease just narrows the list of contenders that could pose a threat to The Armenian Assassin.

Strikeforce never really put much emphasis on their Light Heavyweight Division with their only 205 pounders with name value were Renato Sobral, Bobby Southworth, and Kevin Randleman. Basing your Division around these fighters is a recipe for disaster.

Now it finally seems as if they have a solid Champion who doesn't have many challengers to take on. Although the DREAM merger opens up opportunities for Mousasi to face a different range of opponents. 

The problem is that Mousassi will not be considered the Best Light Heavyweight in the world without making the transition into the UFC and facing the top level of competition at 205.

Regardless of where his career takes him in the future, the sky is really the limit for the young talented Armenian.