Sokoudjou vs Sobral At Affliction II
by Robert Sargent
Barely a week after being cut from the UFC, powerful striker and former top-10 light heavyweight "The African Assassin" Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou has accepted a fight with Renato "Babalu" Sobral at the upcoming Affliction II event in January.
The single-fight agreement will see Sokoudjou and current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Sobral battle in a traditional striker vs grappler matchup.
Both fighters possess highly notable victories in their careers, though the similarities between the two end there. While Sobral (31-7-0) has been competing all over the world since the beginning of 1999, Sokoudjou (5-3-0) has been a mixed martial artist for less than two and a half years.
Sobral, the submission specialist, rose to prominence in his two UFC battles with Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, but some of his biggest victories - including a submission win over former #1-ranked light heavyweight Mauricio "Shogun" Rua - have come outside of the promotion. He has even competed against the top-ranked fighter in MMA, WAMMA Unified Heavyweight Champion and former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko.
Needless to say, Sobral holds a massive edge in experience.
As the current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, Sobral has also attained title status, which is something that Sokoudjou has not yet achieved. Though no titles will be on the line in this bout, future contention in numerous promotions, possibly including the UFC, could very well be at stake.
Unlike Sobral, Sokoudjou has not competed against nearly as many top-ranked fighters, but his back-to-back knockouts over top-10 light heavyweights Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira and Ricardo Arona at PRIDE 33 and 34, respectively, sent shockwaves through the MMA community. However, his tenure in the UFC resulted in a disappointing 1-2 record after stoppage losses to Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida and Luis "Banha" Cane.
This is Sokoudjou's chance for redemption after leaving the UFC, and also his chance to prove that 2007 was no fluke. A dominant victory over Sobral would return some of the lustre to Sokoudjou's formerly skyrocketing career.
The fight will almost certainly end in round one or early in the second stanza, as Sokoudjou will be looking for a quick knockout while Sobral tries to weather the early storm and score a submission on the ground. Ricardo Arona could not take Sokoudjou down and wound up getting knocked out in short order. Machida could take Sokoudjou down, however, and scored a submission.
If Sobral can survive what will surely be a vicious early onslaught of strikes from the native of Cameroon, he can exploit Sokoudjou's poor ground game and questionable conditioning. That, however, is a big "if."
Regardless of which fighter emerges victorious, this bout is likely to be one of the most explosive and exciting fights on the card.
