Mousasi joins GSP's camp, eyes 'King Mo' next:
Gegard Mousasi will join Georges St. Pierre in Miami this week to assist the UFC welterweight champion for a part of his training camp in preparation for his title defense against Dan Hardy at UFC 111.
Then, Mousasi will fly with the team to Las Vegas for an additional week of training.
Mousasi has been told that Strikeforce is considering Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal for his first title defense, most likely on the promotion’s second CBS-televised event sometime in April. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker confirmed to Sherdog.com that the promotion is considering the matchup.
Gegard Mousasi and King Mo Lawal at Called Out MMA in Ontario, CA. (video)
More at sherdog.com.
UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy coverage
Strikeforce on CBS In April coverage
about 2 years ago
Nick Thomas
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I thought that GSP's trainers were exaggerating
Maybe GSP has to spar with Middleweights and Light Heavyweights now, and maybe Welterweights really don’t cut it for GSP to train with anymore. There is something to be said that GSP is training with Mousasi and vice versa. It wouldn’t surprise me if GSP can take down Mousasi.
gsp can def take him down, its a matter of can he hold him down….. but I feel bad for dan hardy man……he’s gonna get smashed to bits…..
I don’t like the idea of king mo fighting mousasi though…… but its not like strikeforce has much else to choose from…… I still think Dan henderson vs. mousasi would be better……. but i guess dan is fighting jake shields
I don’t like Mousasi vs Lawal either so soon. Lawal should be getting built up before fighting someone the caliber of Mousasi. Henderson vs Mousasi would be fun to watch, and it would be a stiff test for Mousasi. I was actually of the opinion that for just one or two fights, Strikeforce should sign a good ex-UFC light heavyweight like Tim Boetsch (or if they can get Arona) to fight either Mousasi or Lawal, and then down the line have them fight each other. The current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight roster just doesn’t have many quality fighters.
Yeah, I don’t like the idea of good fights either. More “build-up” matches please, Scott Coker.
by Dlanor A. Knox on Jan 25, 2010 8:50 PM EST up reply actions
They have Dan fighting jake shields because he can smash jake shields and take the title right away, and they’ll have a middleweight champ that people already know decently well.
They know that if Henderson fights Mousasi first, there’s a very big possibility that he could lose. They want to make Henderson a Strikeforce champ right away, it was probably part of his contract negotiations, to get an immediate title shot. Shields is by far the easier road.
any word on the real pronunciation of Mousasi’s first name? i’ve heard 3 possibilities:
Ge-hard
Ge-gard
and Ge-rhard (french-ish gutteral ‘r’ sound)
Goldie: "Michael Jordan-esque in his grappling skills is Travis Lutter."
Rogan: "No, no he's not. No."
I thought it was Gay-gard.
"an excellent example of why most MMA "journalism" is a joke. Pseudonyms like "toxic" and shitty writing like that dopey article"--- Joe Rogan.
And that isn’t a joke.
"an excellent example of why most MMA "journalism" is a joke. Pseudonyms like "toxic" and shitty writing like that dopey article"--- Joe Rogan.
I heard the SF people pronounce it like that, but then I also hear ‘get’ (without the T) + ‘gard’, I’d think that is the correct pronunciation. If the correct pronunciation is the former, I wonder if the word gay is the same in Armenian, and if he got picked in school for that while growing up.
Pain is Temporary
Pride is Forever
regardless
dude is the shit for the judo-style leg takedown on Soko
Goldie: "Michael Jordan-esque in his grappling skills is Travis Lutter."
Rogan: "No, no he's not. No."
From a purely business standpoint,
King Mo would be the perfect opponent for Mousasi. Lawal has a big enough mouth to make up for the fedor-esque lack of personality Gegard brings to the table. Strikeforce will need such a polarizing opponent like that to get the casuals interested in the fight, especially for their critical sophomore network card
After watching Soko control Gegard for a large portion of their fight, I could actually see King Mo scoring an upset if he fights a smart fight. However, I don’t think Mo has the patience to follow a boring methodical game plan and will end up trying to do something spectacular that Gegard capitalizes on to win the fight.
loud mouthed fighters don’t generally insult or talk crap to humble opponents who never say anything before the fight. If Wanderlei Silva fought Fedor, i doubt he would stare Fedor down.
So i don’t think King Mo will talk smack if they’re set up to fight.
Mousasi does have a mouth on him though.
He was real quick to lash out at Filho. In Mo started shit talking, you better believe that Gegard would follow suit.
To Steve4192: Yeah, but let’s remember who Soko is. He’s easily a top 10 fighter… for the first round. Fightfinder actually tells a pretty good story on him. Seven of his fights have ended first round, six of which he won. Aside from his debut, he’s never won a fight that went past that mark.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
No doubt Soko has one of the best three minute blitzes in the sport.
However, the Mousasi fight was the first time we have ever seen him completely dominate an opponent with his judo. His three-minute offense usually consists of him spamming power shots until he runs out of gas.
How much would you pay for a catchweight round robin
between Soko, McFedries, Houston, and Baroni? Each fight is one, three minute round.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
I would pay $50
if it happened in a 1 night tourny.
I don’t know about Houston. He can’t be trusted anymore.
by dancingChicken on Jan 25, 2010 7:49 PM EST up reply actions
I’m just pissed I will be watching Mousasi vs King Mo instead of Mousasi vs Machida/Shogun/Rampage/Rashad/LilNog/etc
agreed… I will be happy to see mo get smashed though
by cagefightonacid on Jan 25, 2010 6:03 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Mousasi trianing with GSP, ok.
As for Mo, he is a good athlete, great wrestler, power in his hands, but they are rushing him. its cause he is the only LHW for MOusasi to fight.
But thats a good CBS card.
Fedor/Werdum
Mousasi/Mo
Hendo/Jake
I thought maybe MElendez/Aoki too, but thats three title fights and would be way too much for a CBS card, thats more of a PPV type card.
So if they added Rogers vs Big Foot or Josh Thomson vs Shaolin or something, still is a very good card for CBS. Though the matchups are one sided, fedor will smash Werdum, Mousasi is better than Mo and Hendo should crush Jake.
But for a free card, thats great.
GSP’s camp will go to whatever lengths necessary to find GSP the best training partners. He’s already got guys to spar with in the individual disciplines (boxing, MT, wrestling, BJJ) who are better than him, but now they’re really focusing on finding bigger guys for GSP to do his MMA sparring with. Brilliant. I’d pay $$ to see training footage of GSP-Mousasi (and Mousais-Marquardt, and GSP-Jones, and Mousais-Rashad, etc).
Mousais-King Mo is a great fight if it comes off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awh0zcs9xMY
Brief footage
I hear you. I’d pay to see it as well. GM has an excellent ground game and seems very competent off his back although I wouldn’t be surprised if GSP could keep him pinned there, especially after seeing what Gono was able to do (admittedly much earlier in GM’s career). If GSP does well against GM I hope this inspires him to move up after the Hardy fight, assuming a W.
by The Darkness on Jan 25, 2010 5:27 PM EST up reply actions
Strikeforce must not like King Mo.
He must be a pain in the ass behind the scenes also. Mousasi will smash him.
by snakecharmer1340 on Jan 25, 2010 6:49 PM EST reply actions
Mousasi doesn’t look like a “legacy” kind of guy. He is more the fedor type (the type he has been lately), fight whoever, win, get cash, live a happy life.
"You hit too hard, too hard, too hard..."
Fedor already is known as the greatest of all time. If Mousasi goes the Fedor route now he’ll be a never was.
Keep firing Assholes!
Mind numbing, tedious and ultimately self defeating.
fedor fought in a top promotion for years
pride had by far the best heavyweight division and fedor was the king of it winning some epic fights against great fighters, big nog2x, cro cop
mousasi has beaten nobody and is the champ of the SF lhw division which is probably SFs weakest division he has to come to the UFC at some point to be considered legit
You might want to go and look at Mousasi’s wins. Hardly a bunch of nobodies.
by scrambledeggs on Jan 25, 2010 7:59 PM EST up reply actions
ok i was exagerating the nobodys a little but id hardly count sokoudjou mark hunt babalu and melvin manhoef as good competition for someone of mousasi’s ability he should be fighting in the UFC against the best in the world at lhw
No all of those guys aside from Hunt right now are good competition.
by scrambledeggs on Jan 25, 2010 10:41 PM EST up reply actions
Shit just got real...
Mauricio Shogun Rua #1 LHW in the World. The TRUE Champion.
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on Jan 25, 2010 6:57 PM EST reply actions 3 recs
there are no lhws in SF
hes fighting king mo? cmon really? just let him come to the ufc already have him fight forrest griffin and if he wins give him a title shot that sounds way better than him dicking aroung in SF for another year or 2
Don’t worry, he’s only got a couple fights left (2 in SF 1 in Dream maybe?), then he’ll be UFC-bound.
He’ll be in the UFC as soon as they come to an agreement with m-1 for him and Fedor.
by John Nash on Jan 25, 2010 9:47 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Do you think Mousasi would rather stay with Strikeforce and fight the Babalus and Mos of the world or try a run at the UFC gold and potentially make millions of dollars and become an all time great?
Mousasi is a grown man and he can make decisions without the help of Fedor and M-1.
Keep firing Assholes!
Mind numbing, tedious and ultimately self defeating.
I know it is like reading tea leaves, but you can infer a lot by Mousasi and m-1’s words and actions:
1) Mousasi recently spoke about his schedule for the whole year, which included a Strikeforce fight on a Fedor card, a series of fights in a Dream LHW tournament (which would be more than 1 fight), and another fight for Strikeforce. In addition he mentioned he would be doing some boxing. All of this is being scheduled by his manager Apy of m-1. To be discussing such extensive plans tells me he has a long term contract with m-1.
2. M-1 seems to be very demanding about having Gegard fight on Fedor’s CBS cards. If they thought Gegard was going to drop them and run off to the UFC I don’t think they would be putting all this extra energy into trying push him as the next big thing.
3. If Mousasi turns into the next big thing then a Fedor/Mousasi package would have a lot more leverage than just Fedor. The UFC might cave in on some key demands if it meant getting both of them. Heaven forbid if Karl Amoussou turns into another superstar and they can package the three together.
4. I think there is money to be made by m-1 in Russia, Japan, South Korea, and parts of Europe and the former Soviet Union. Enough that they might be able to keep Gegard in m-1.
Whatever his plans, the possibility of the UFC getting Fedor and/or Gegard won’t come up for a whole year. So we’ll have a lot of time to speculate.
by John Nash on Jan 25, 2010 10:49 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
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