I guess the first time I read about Gegard Mousasi (pronounced Gay'-guard Moo-Saw'-see) was after he upset fan favorite Denis Kang in the Dream 2008 Middleweight Grand Prix tournament. At the time, Kang was one of those guys that many expected to be a world champion some day. He had insane experience and wins over some of the best guys in the sport. By contrast, the 23 year old Gegard had kept busy since turning pro at the tender age of 18, but his biggest win had come over Hector Lombard, and he had already suffered two defeats--both by armbar.
Though Kang was coming off a knockout loss to Yoshihiro Akiyama, most expected him to get back on the winning track against Mousasi. Indeed, he was only a few fights removed from a 23 fight winning streak that saw him go undefeated for more than 3 years. During that streak, he defeated one of the two men to have beaten Mousasi--Akihiro Gono. So again, most of us expected Kang to handle the young Armenian-born fighter who trained in the Netherlands.
And in the first minute of their fight, it looked like he was going to. They exchanged a few punches, which Kang seemed to get the better of, and then Kang shot for a takedown, got it, and immediately started working a kimura on Mousasi's right arm. But Mousasi seemed unworried about the armlock, unworried that he was on his back and that one of the best fighters in the business was on top of him. He simply went to work, smacking Kang's head with left-handed punches and driving his right knee into the exposed left side of Kang's face over and over again. Most of the knees only grazed Kang, but they got his attention. After a minute and a half of them, Kang released the kimura and tried to land some ground-n-pound. This allowed Mousasi to free himself from Kang's half guard. As Kang stood to get leverage on some of his punches, he learned what many other would learn in the future:
Gegard Mousasi has long legs. And even from his back, he will kick you in the face. Mousasi launched one upkick after another. These were like horse kicks. Kang didn't like them at all. To get past them, he dropped into Mousasi's open guard and threw a reckless right hand at Mousasi's face. The punch missed, and Mousasi snatched the arm and simultaneously wrapped his legs around Kang's neck. The move Mousasi had just slapped onto Kang was called a triangle choke, and Kang wasn't getting out of it. Mousasi squeezed tight. Seconds later, Kang tapped.
Here is the YouTube video of their fight.
Mousasi's next fight was against Dong Sik Yoon, who had defeated veteran Shungo Oyama in the quarterfinals. Yoon was probably best known in the states as having lost to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson a couple years earlier, but when he faced Mousasi, he was on a four fight win streak against good competition. Though Mousasi would defeat him by unanimous decision, Yoon would later earn a victory over future Strikeforce champion and current UFC contender, Tarec Saffiedine--so Yoon was no bum.
Beating Yoon put Mousasi in the tournament finals held a few months later. To win, he would need to defeat not one, but two fighters in the same night. And first up was not just any fighter. It was Melvin Manhoef. For those of you unfamiliar with Manhoef, he is a monster trained in the Dutch style of kickboxing. Heading into the Mousasi fight, he was riding a 5-fight win streak (all by knockout) and had just destroyed all-time great, Kasushi Sakuraba. Though the odds makers had Mousasi listed as a slight favorite, there was no question who Dream felt was the bigger draw. Mousasi walked to the ring first with little fan fare. Manhoef, on the other hand, made a real production of the ring walk.
When the giant monitors separated to reveal the fighter, he was standing with his back to the audience, facing a behemoth of a trainer who was shouting into his face. Ring announcer Bas Rutten quipped, "Wish he had a microphone, eh?" When Manhoef finally turned to face the audience, he looked ready to punch through a mountain. He wore a studded dog collar with a chain link leash held by his trainer. Then he smiled. The smile seemed completely out of character for the guy who just seconds ago seemed ready to commit multiple homicides. But then he did something even more strange for the moment. He danced. He danced all the way to the ring, the bright, wide smile never leaving his face. By the time his trainer removed the dog collar, Manhoef's smile was gone. He entered the ring and glared at Mousasi, who simply stood there, looking relaxed and almost bored.
When the bell rang, Mousasi quickly demonstrated why he was the slight betting favorite. He wasted no time trading hands with the lethal kickboxer. Instead, he closed distance and shot for a takedown. Manhoef sprawled expertly, but couldn't free himself from Mousasi's grasp. Moments later, Mousasi had another triangle choke locked up. Manhoef, having little ground skills, had no chance to escape the choke but one. And he tried. Manhoef hoisted Mousasi above his head and carried the man's full weight for several steps before slamming him to the canvas. Many fighters would have soiled their shorts if the guy they had locked in a triangle was strong enough to stand up and walk around the ring with you hanging from their shoulders, but Mousasi, again, was composed, and simply took the extra opportunity to cinch on the choke a bit tighter as Manhoef carried him. When Manhoef slammed him to the canvas, Mousasi was unaffected. He kept squeezing, and Manhoef had no choice but to submit.
So in short order, Mousasi had upset the fan favorite and now found himself in the tournament final. But who would he have to face? None other than Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza. Jacare, which means Alligator in Portuguese, was the odds on favorite to win the tournament. And not by a little, either. Jacare is one of the most decorated submission grapplers in history. He is a 5-time world jiu-jitsu champion. 5 time! Three of those 5 championships he won at open weight, which means he had to face guys who were much bigger, heavier and stronger than he was. He is one of the few men to hold a submission win over Marcelo Garcio, who is considered by many to be the greatest submission competitor of all time. That's right. Jacare submitted the best submission guy in history. Let that sink in for a moment.
That same night, Jacare made short work of Croatian striker, Zelg Galesic, tapping him with a quick armbar in the first round to make it to the finals. Being a long fight card, both finalists had an almost four-hour weight between fights. By the time both men were back in the ring staring across at one another, they were fresh and ready to put on a great fight. When the bell rang, Mousasi took a low stance, hoping to be able to better defend Jacare's inevitable takedown attempts. It didn't help.
Jacare shot in at Mousasi's legs, and though Mousasi tried to sprawl away from the jiu-jitsu wizard, he could not stop "The Gator" from clamping on. For the second time that night, Mousasi found himself being hoisted above another man's head and carried across the ring. And for a second time that night, he found himself being slammed to the canvas. But this time, he didn't have a choke already cinched up. No, this time he was the guy doing everything in his power to avoid being submitted. Right away, Jacare started working to improve position. From the top--or the bottom, for that matter--Jacare is an absolute beast, able to find submissions where few can. For the fans watching live, it seemed just a matter of time before Jacare found one and was crowned tournament champion.
But then Jacare learned what Denis Kang had learned earlier: Gegard Mousasi kicks like a horse from his back. Jacare pulled free from Mousasi's guard and then leaped at him, throwing a right handed haymaker. But Mousasi smashed him with an upkick while Jacare was in mid-flight. The kick knocked Jacare unconscious and left him lying limp on top of Mousasi.
With one kick, Mousasi had pulled off an incredible upset and won the Grand Prix tournament!
Here is the whole video of the fight.
Now keep this in mind: to this day, Jacare is one of the most feared competitors in the sport. In fact, he is fighting this Saturday on the very same card as Mousasi. Since coming to the UFC, Jacare has looked like a juggernaut. And Mousasi knocked him cold.
Mousasi followed up that performance with a quick submission win over K1 champion, Mark Hunt. Like Jacare, Hunt has since made it to the UFC and has had a career resurgence, notching big wins against Stefan Struve and Antonio "Big Foot" Silva (fight of the year candidate). In a stand-up fight, Hunt would probably wreck Mousasi. When they fought, he outweighed Mousasi by close to 50 pounds. But Mousasi took him down easily and secured a kimura armlock in the first round. You can see the fight here.
Next up for Gegard was Renato "Babalu" Sobral, who is probably most famous for having been viciously knocked out twice by Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell. All the same, Babalu was a fearsome opponent with a ton of high-level experience. Though most expected Gegard to win, I don't think they expected him to do it so easily. Within seconds, Babalu was on his back trying in vain to defend against Gegard's ground-n-pound. But try as he might, he could not keep the "Dream Catcher" from putting him to sleep. Mousasi hit him with several punches that left Babalu staring off into space, removed from consciousness.
Just three months later, Mousasi stood across the ring from a name that will be familiar to any of you who read my last post. The name was Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. He had lost to Lyoto Machida a few years earlier, and to Babalu in his previous fight. Though the hype train had stopped running for Sokoudjou by this time, many still believed in his potential. Some even predicted a return to the form that saw him destroy top-10 fighters Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. This was not to be. Mousasi proved too strong for the Judo black belt, and in the second round he forced the referee to stop the fight lest his vicious ground-n-pound permanently injure his once super-hyped opponent.
The trip above is representative of Gegard's creative fighting instinct. That trip led to his gaining top position and, of course, to his brutal ground-n-pound. You can see the whole fight here.
The next month, Gegard faced mixed martial arts pioneer, Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge. Goodridge was long-in-the-tooth by the time Mousasi fought him, but he still possessed bone-crunching knockout power. If that was of any concern to Mousasi, he didn't show it. He strode confidently from his corner and traded strikes with the veteran before hitting a double leg takedown. From top position, he gave Goodridge a beating, prompting the referee to stop the fight. Goodridge immediately jumped to his feet to protest the stoppage, but in truth, he hadn't been defending himself. You can see for yourself here. Oh, and if you'd like to see some great knockout clips, just click this highlight reel to see why Gary was once considered a very bad man.
This dismantling led to Mousasi being paired against NCAA Division II National Champion wrestler, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, for the Strikeforce 205 pound championship. This fight was one of the strangest I've ever seen. King Mo was able to take Mousasi down anytime he wished. Mousasi's takedown defense was so bad, it almost appeared like he wanted King Mo on top of him. For five rounds, King Mo took Gegard down over and over again.
But that was all he did.
King Mo wasn't able to inflict any damage on the Armenian-born fighter. For his part, Gegard stayed busy, slapping King Mo with strikes from the bottom, but never managing to lock up a submission or to hurt King Mo. After 25 minutes, the judges gave Lawal a unanimous decision. Though he had lost for the first time in four years, Mousasi did inflict more damage than his opponent did. In fact, he left Lawal's face a swollen mess.
Swollen face or not, Mousasi still lost that fight. His hype train came to a screeching halt after the loss, and, in my opinion, is one of the main reasons people aren't as excited to see him face Lyoto Machida this weekend. Since then, he has rattled off seven straights wins without a loss.
Last April, he finally made his UFC debut and won a decision over late replacement, Ilir Latifi. While most expected him to easily finish Latifi, especially considering that Latifi took the fight on short notice, I thought he looked great. Mousasi's jab was masterful. He used it the way a fencing champion uses his sword. By the third round, Latifi's face was a plate of spaghetti. Latifi won a moral victory for having taken the beating without getting knocked out, but make no mistake, Mousasi dominated the fight and probably would have finished it with a couple more rounds to play with.
You can see the fight here.
It's been 10 months since that fight, which represents the longest layoff of Mousasi's career. The layoff likely also contributes to the lack of buzz about this fight. As they say, out of sight, out of mind. But I have a feeling everyone will remember him after Saturday night.
Tune in next time when I explore the two fighters' styles and how they match up. I'll also predict a winner.
Until then, keep your hands up and come out fighting.
By the way, do you like short stories? If so, check out my collection. It's titled "Big Blue" and is a mix of horror and pulp fiction, available in both paperback and Kindle edition.
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