Breaking Down Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers; Gegard Mousasi vs. Sokoudjou

All this week, I'll be breaking down Strikeforce: Fedor vs Rogers, fight by fight. Today I'll be focusing on the current Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi and former PRIDE and UFC fighter Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.

Gegard Mousasi

Gegard "The Dreamcatch" Mousasi is a 24 year old MMA prodigy. Currently holding a both the DREAM Middleweight Championship and the Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight championship, he is currently the only fighter holding a title in two major MMA promotions.

At an astounding record of 26-2-1 in six years of fighting, Mousasi has defeated names such as Denis Kang, Melvin Manhoef, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and most recently Renato Sobral. The most impressive thing about those victories is that he finished them all in the first round.

Gegard is one of the biggest threats to finish fights in all of MMA. Of his 26 victories, 15 are by knockout, nine are by submission, and just two are by decision. Although he has been finished himself as well.

His two losses have both come way of armbar submission. In a recent M-1 Global promoted grappling match between Mousasi and the headliner of Saturdays card Fedor Emelianenko, Mousasi was once again submitted by armbar. Are you listening Sokoudjou? Armbar, armbar, armbar. Got it?

Keys to Victory

1. Push The Pace- Sokoudjou has famously bad cardio. If Gegard can really bring the fight to Sokoudjou, which he most likely will, we can expect to see Soko gas out and struggle to get off any of his big shots.
2. Watch Those Kicks- Sokoudjou loves to throw kicks. He'll kick your legs, body and head, and every single one of those will hurt. Just ask Kaz Nakamura, those leg kicks really add up. He also likes to set-up some sick combinations with those kicks. That's how he stunned little Nog.
3. Stay Off Your Back- Seems obvious right? But I can't stress this enough. Sokoudjou is one of the best Judo practitioners in MMA and he's more than capable of getting a fight to the ground. But once there, he is relentless. He will look to finish as soon as the first back hair of his opponent hits the canvas.

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou

Known simply as Sokoudjou, this 25 year old Judo practitioner was once considered on his way to a UFC title. This coming after back-to-back knockout wins over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. He was considered an underdog in both bouts, but proved otherwise with his dominance.

With a record of 7-4 with wins over the aforementioned fighters plus the gargantuan Bob Sapp and Jan Nortje in his last two fights, Sokoudjou is determined to climb back into the Light-Heavyweight top ten.

Holding an extensive background in Judo including a US Open championship back in 2001, you wouldn't expect him to have hands that may or may not be made of stone (I'm leaning towards the former).

But Sokoudjou has one major flaw, his cardio. He was exposed by Lyoto Machida and Luiz Cane while in the UFC, and since then he has yet to prove himself in the cardiovascular department. Hopefully, for his sake, Soko has made that a focal point in his training lately.

Keys To Victory

1. Go With What You Know- You are an expert at Judo, why not try it sometime? With a history of dominance once on top of his opponent, you'd think he'd try to get that position more often. Gegard has the better cardio and fantastic hands, you don't want to see those first hand.
   
2. Bring The Pain- I just told Gegard that you like to kick, don't make me out to be a liar. Throw those kicks out as much as possible. Make him hesitant to come into the pocket, because if he gets comfortable, get ready to eat some leather.
3. Relax- Don't burn yourself out. Usually I'll tell guys with bad cardio to try and finish their opponent early, but being that you've never submitted anyone, and Gegards only been finish by submission, the odds of you ending this one quickly aren't too good. Pace yourself, maybe you'll pull out a decision.

Prediction

Sokoudjou has looked pretty good in his last two fights. Yes, I know that his opponents weren't exactly top notch, but they were pretty high on the actual food scale. He had good evasion and was even able to take them both to the ground and finish. If this fight ends up on the ground, it could get dangerous for Sokoudjou, but I don't see him getting submitted.

I'll go with the underdog here and say Sokoudjou pulls off a decision victory filled with lots of kicks and lots of boos. Call me crazy, but I see a new Sokoudjou emerging on Saturday.