The quick destruction of former UFC and PRIDE fighter Renato "Babalu" Sobral by Gegard Mousasi has been overshadowed by the women's main event match-up between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos. Fans bought into the hype by throwing a lot of action on Mousasi when he opened as an underdog on the betting lines worldwide a few weeks before Affliction: Trilogy. After the event cancellation and the transfer to Strikeforce, Mousasi opened as a 2 to 1 favorite, a complete shift in the line from nearly a month ago. Fans knew something great was going to happen.

On paper, Mousasi vs. Sobral was a very intriguing battle that had a lot of hardcore fans excited to see what would come out of it. It was a battle that would prove if Mousasi could transition to the cage along with taking on a legitimate light heavyweight in Sobral, but it also gave Sobral the chance to claim he still had what it takes to be a top-notch light heavyweight worldwide. Sobral easily had advantages in cage experience, level of competition, and jiu-jitsu on the ground, but Mousasi was easily the favorite in the stand-up game. Unfortunately for Sobral, Mousasi's aggressiveness and pinpoint accuracy crushed him easily in the first round, confirming that Mousasi is likely to be favored over any light heavyweight fighter that Strikeforce can conjure up.

Mousasi answered a huge question with his win on Saturday night. Could he hang with a solid competitor like Renato "Babalu" Sobral in a new weight class? A lot of fans had already thrown out a resounding "Yes!" to that question weeks beforehand, but I wasn't convinced like many other writers about his strength of competition during his days with DREAM.

Photo by Esther Lin.

Over the preceding weeks leading up to this event, I had heard a lot of opinions regarding Mousasi's past performances in DREAM. I read a couple of mainstream MMA writers talk about how Mousasi's wins in Japan were "astonishing" and how those wins were against "unbelievable" competition. It sounded like a huge marketing push by Strikeforce instead of insightful analysis, but it wasn't something I was surprised to see. His middleweight challenges in Japan weren't "unbelievable", but rather the right level of competition to test Mousasi for the future.

The challenge on Saturday night was the perfect example of raising the bar for Mousasi. After taking on powerful strikers, BJJ black belts, a judoka, and a heavyweight kickboxer, Mousasi moved to a different weight class in a different environment against a somewhat well-rounded veteran in Renato "Babalu" Sobral. While Sobral lacked the stand-up game to give Mousasi problems, he did have the experience in the cage along with a tenacious style in the clinch to hurt Mousasi. Mousasi continued his progression into the upper-echelon of talent outside of the UFC and potentially in the world.

In watching the fight unfold from the entrances to the end of the fight, there is one eerily familiar quality in Gegard Mousasi that could be a hint of things to come. Much like his friend and training partner Fedor Emelianenko, Mousasi has a stoicism about him that gives us the sense that he is completely unphased at the prospect of fighting in a cage in front of a large crowd. He seems calm, almost bored... reminiscent of the most dominating heavyweight fighter the MMA world has ever seen -- Fedor Emelianenko. Could this be an indication of things to come? Will Gegard Mousasi become a dominating champion like Fedor?

Skill-wise, Mousasi likely has a ways to go in order to become a dominating force like Fedor in the light heavyweight division, but there remains a mystery as to what Mousasi truly works on in his training. He has the striking capability of a K-1 striker, but his ground game remains unknown. Claiming he's a Fedor Emelianenko in the making is a bit of a stretch, but one can't help but see his face and his performance and be awakened by the memories of Fedor's dominance in PRIDE.

There is one problem stopping Mousasi from gaining huge leaps in the worldwide rankings at light heavyweight. Strikeforce doesn't have the depth to challenge Mousasi without some key acquisitions. Sokoudjou is the only real DREAM light heavyweight at the moment, and Mousasi is already scheduled to battle him at DREAM 11. The rest of the roster includes Mike Kyle, Rafael Feijao Calvancante, Kevin Randleman, Mike Whitehead, Ralek Gracie, Bobby Southworth, and a bunch of guys who would be completely outclassed by Mousasi. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira or Muhammed Lawal need to be signed and matched up against Mousasi. Nogueira is an excellent fight, but Lawal may be biting off more than he can chew in that match-up.

Mousasi has hit the end of the line when it comes to progressing his career with Strikeforce unless they can get some solid talent into the promotion. They will definitely help him gain some stock with American audiences, but the battles that the promotion has for him won't be tough tests for him right now. With two fights left on his contract and a boxing contract apparently signed, it'll be a while before Mousasi makes his way to the UFC. Of course, that'll be an entirely different prospect with M-1 as his management team. Hopefully, Mousasi won't get tied up in any kind of co-promotional clause in his contract when the time comes.