Renato 'Babalu' Sobral, Gegard Mousasi and Sokoudjou Set to Compete on DREAM's Light Heavyweight Grand Prix
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 18, 2010 11:51 AM EDT
in MMA News
Email
Print
News comes from mmajunkie that former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, Renato 'Babalu' Sobral (35-8) has officially signed on to compete on DREAM's Light Heavyweight Grand Prix that starts this May:
The former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion and UFC contender has signed a multi-fight contract with DREAM and will participate in the promotion's upcoming light heavyweight tournament, which is set to begin May 30 at DREAM.15.
Current Strikeforce light heavyweight titleholder Gegard Mousasi is a lock for the DREAM tournament, according to officials.
MMA Fighting confirms Mousasi's participation, and says that Sokoudjou will also be part of the GP:
Mousasi confirmed his own participation in an interview with MMAFighting.com on Wednesday, and Dream officials confirmed that Sokoudjou and Babalu will be part of the tournament as well... it is expected to be an eight-man tournament that will conclude some time in the summer or fall.
That makes two participants that Mousasi has already beaten, and with the shortage of top-flight light heavyweights that could enter, it is safe to assume that Gegard would be an early favorite to win the tourney -- but that's if he's able to handle his business against King Mo this April.
Aside from the light heavyweight tourney, DREAM.15 will also host the return of DREAM Welterweight Champion, Marius Zaromskis (13-4). No opponent has been announced yet, but we will fill you in as more details become available.
HT: mmajunkie, mmafighting
Rumored DREAM.15 Card So Far:
- Marius Zaromskis vs TBA
DREAM Light Heavyweight GP Participants:
- Renato 'Babalu' Sobral
- Gegard Mousasi
- Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
46 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I hope they get more talented fighters, cause I'm not that excited about seeing Gegard rematch these two.
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 18, 2010 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions
Monson? Filho? Petruzelli? Randleman (but he’s with SRC)? and a bunch of mid to low level fillers.
and maybe… Minowaman! haha.
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 18, 2010 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions
would that really be fair to the other fighters though to have the SUPER HLUK champion in every GP?
"For some reason Dana White doesn't like me, and I don't care enough to find out why. So he can go pound sand up his ass as far as I'm concerned."
Don Frye
by keyboardwarrior on Mar 18, 2010 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions
i wanted to suggested Minowaman, But really i want to see him defend his super hulk title… against a giant squid
HI YAH!
by Thats It For you! on Mar 18, 2010 1:27 PM EDT up reply actions
Why?
Would you put up a pic of Babalu getting beat down….shame on you
WAR Babalu. Make the comeback!
DEEP's LHW GP Winner
DEEP.47 Impact
April 17, 2010
Ryuta Noji (9-5-0) vs. Shunsuke Inoue (8-4-2)
Christian "Tonton" M’Pumbu (15-2-1) vs. Yoshiyuki Nakanishi (6-1-0)
More than likely M’Pumbu takes it…
that would be a logical choice.
this GP would suck though if those who have fights on April (those guys + Mousasi) would get injured.
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 18, 2010 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions
KOTC let Abel Cullum, KOTC FW Champ, fight in the FW GP. They shouldn’t have a problem lending them KOTC HW & LHW Champ Tony Lopez (18-2-0).
Maybe Lawal will join for a third rematch.
Lawal, Monson and Minoaman would be solid additions though. If they could find a bay to bring Hendo over, that would be cool.
How short everyone's memory is...
Feijao, assuming he participates, is the dark horse of this tournament. He’s also the most dangerous opponent outside of the UFC for Mousasi. He has one embarrassing loss and people forget that he’s kinda a wrecking machine.
I also believe there was talk of Del Rosario being able to make the cut to 205, as well as Roger Gracie. Correct me if I’m wrong, don’t have my coffee yet. This tournament won’t tell us who the best LHW in the world is (we already know it’s Shogun) but it will certainly be fun and I’m glad to see the tournament format being poised for a comeback in the US.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
sounds like a SF tourney to me. haha :)
but seriously though, I wonder how many Japanese fighters enter this tourney.
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 18, 2010 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions
Glad to see someone mention Feijao. Would love see him go to the UFC, to fight more often.
by dancingChicken on Mar 18, 2010 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions
I don’t think Feijao will be participating. My guess is Strikeforce will be building up their next challenger while Mousasi fights in the tournament and then Hendo (assuming Gegard and Dan win next month of course).
And I thought Ninja Rua was going to go back up to 185 to be in the tournament?
But Mousasi is in the tournament
so there’s no need to build a challenger. It will come pseudo-organically from the opposite side of the bracket, and that’s where I’d put Feijao.
Unrelated: Didn’t Monson also say he was going to drop to 205? And Abongo Humpherys is too. I’m pretty sure Jacare has fought at LHW as well, but call me out if I’m wrong. So the names I’m seeing for an 8 man are: Mousasi, Babalu, Soko, Humphreys, Monson, Jacare, Roger Gracie, and Feijao. That’s a fun tournament, and I’m tentatively excited to watch this thing kick off.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
Ricco Rodriguez dropped to 205 too right?
"For some reason Dana White doesn't like me, and I don't care enough to find out why. So he can go pound sand up his ass as far as I'm concerned."
Don Frye
by keyboardwarrior on Mar 18, 2010 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Souza would be a good edition, he looked quite a bit bigger when he fought lindland.
HI YAH!
by Thats It For you! on Mar 18, 2010 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions
But what does Strikeforce do when the tournament is done and all they have is Hendo waiting for Mousasi? They have to save a couple of guys so they can hold a title fight with Gegard later in the year or early next year. Also, I’m actually positive that Feijao, Britt, Gracie, and Randleman will not be in the tournament for the simple fact that it starts May 30, two weeks after all four are booked to fight in St. Louis.
You just made a DREAM tournament without a single Asian guy.
Call me crazy, but I don’t see it going down like that.
There will be at least two or three Japanese guys and probably a token Korean.
...fuck.
I was thinking about Strikeforce’s roster. Again, didn’t have coffee yet.
For DREAM, you’ think Filho and Manhoef would be included. Sakuraba might enter too. He’s done OWGPs and clearly has a death wish. I can’t think of any real LHWs from Japan off the top of my head.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
Top 5 Japanese LHW's
1. Ryo Kawamura (11-5-2)
2. Sanae Kikuta (28-6-3)
3. Nobutatsu Suzuki (6-0-2)
4. Shunsuke Inoue (8-4-2)
5. Yukiya Naito (15-6-2)
I don’t think he has recovered from his knee injury yet
"For some reason Dana White doesn't like me, and I don't care enough to find out why. So he can go pound sand up his ass as far as I'm concerned."
Don Frye
by keyboardwarrior on Mar 18, 2010 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions
From an article last month
"I injured a ligament in the first round, but at the end of the second round, when I put my foot on the Octagon grid, I must have (torn) my meniscus. From that point on I felt a really hard pain, but I returned in the third round and fought standing up until the bell rang," said Arona, who had surgery two months ago.
"In July I’ll restart my MMA training," Arona said. "I got some calls from two American events. I want to be fighting in October or November."
"For some reason Dana White doesn't like me, and I don't care enough to find out why. So he can go pound sand up his ass as far as I'm concerned."
Don Frye
by keyboardwarrior on Mar 18, 2010 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions
?Yeah, I had a shit load of those as a kid. I don't know what I did with them.
I used to have epic battles though. I remember that.
WOW I had totally forgotten about those little guys!
"For some reason Dana White doesn't like me, and I don't care enough to find out why. So he can go pound sand up his ass as far as I'm concerned."
Don Frye
by keyboardwarrior on Mar 18, 2010 12:58 PM EDT up reply actions
They showed a bunch of clips of them when Minowaman was entering the ring to beat down Soku
I couldn’t remember what tthey were called, but it did get me extra stoked to see Minowaman.
There are some Light Heavyweights out there (mostly fighters cut by the UFC) that are pretty decent. I don’t know if DREAM can get Tony Lopez from KOTC or Wilson Gouviea who is currently signed with MFC. I don’t know if they can get the MFC fighters like David Heath or Mike Nickels. Also, Tim Boetsch is out there who I always thought was pretty decent. Houston Alexander is out there right now, and so is Seth Petruzelli who isn’t terrible. I don’t know what happened to Andre Gusmao in the UFC with him losing all the time there, but he isn’t that bad. Mike Patt or Reese Andy are out there as well even though they aren’t that good.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
MMA Rankings
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
