Gegard Mousasi Dominates Renato 'Babalu' Sobral, Wins Strikeforce Belt

One of the best young fighters in all of MMA made his American debut in spectacular fashion Saturday night, as Gegard Mousasi won the Strikeforce light heavyweight title, beating Renato "Babalu" Sobral by first-round TKO.

It was an absolutely destructive performance by Mousasi, who took Babalu down in the first minute of the first round, got on top of him and punched him in the face repeatedly until Babalu was out cold and referee Big John McCarthy stepped in to save him.

"I wanted to fight stand-up," Mousasi said afterward. "But if I can take advantage of takedowns I will. ... It feels good. There was some pressure because it was the first time in the U.S., but I just wanted to perform well."

Mousasi, who last year won the Dream middleweight tournament, is probably at his best at light heavyweight, where he's now fighting with Strikeforce. He's a force to be reckoned with. (Mousasi is also fighting in Dream's heavyweight Super Hulk Tournament, and he has said he wants to dabble in boxing and kickboxing as well.) Whatever he does going forward, the 24-year-old Mousasi is a brilliant fighter, and one every MMA fan needs to know.

For more on Strikeforce, check our results, live chat and MMA Twitter updates.

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Carano vs. Cyborg

Cris Cyborg punches Gina Carano in the face at the Strikeforce event on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, in San Jose, California.

Esther Lin, Strikeforce

Carano vs. Cyborg

Cris Cyborg punches Gina Carano in the face at the Strikeforce event on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, in San Jose, California.

Esther Lin, Strikeforce

Gina Carano's leg gets caught by Cris Cyborg at the Strikeforce event on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, in San Jose, California.

Esther Lin, Strikeforce

Gina Carano punches Cris Cyborg in the face at the Strikeforce event on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, in San Jose, California.

Esther Lin, Strikeforce

Cris Cyborg celebrates her victory over Gina Carano to win the Strikeforce title on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, in San Jose, California.

Esther Lin, Strikeforce

Gegard Mousasi dominates the fight against Babalu Sobral, winning the fight in one minute at the Strikeforce event on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, in San Jose, California.

Esther Lin, Strikeforce

Gegard Mousasi celebrates his first-round knockout victory at the Strikeforce event on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, in San Jose, California.

Esther Lin, Strikeforce

Gilbert Melendez, right, hammers Mitsuhiro Ishida at the Strikeforce event on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, in San Jose, California.

Esther Lin, Strikeforce

Gilbert Melendez celebrates his third-round knockout win against Mitsuhiro Ishida at the Strikeforce event on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, in San Jose, California.

Esther Lin, Strikeforce

Fabricio Werdum finishes Mike Kyle off early in the first round with a guillotine choke at the Strikeforce event on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, in San Jose, California.

Esther Lin, Strikeforce

Fabricio Werdum celebrates his first-round victory at the Strikeforce event on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, in San Jose, California.

Esther Lin, Strikeforce

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-15-2009 @ 11:40PM

M13 said...

That man has arrived!

8-15-2009 @ 11:43PM

johnnynumber5 said...

Damn Straight ... Just wait until the UFC fans get to see Fedor do the same thing against his opponents. You can tell that Mousasi has learned a lot from his M-1 counterpart Fedor.

You see enough to convince yourself yet NeoZoo? I told you bro ...

8-15-2009 @ 11:42PM

I'm just going to say it again. This guy deserves to be in EVERYONES top 10 P4P rankings in the world. The guy is on a crazy winning streak and has completely run through all his opponents including world class fighters like Jacare Souza and Renato Sobral.

Hate to say I told you so to NeoZoo ... But, I told you so!

Mousasi is as cold a steel fridge door ... freaking BEAST MODE!

8-15-2009 @ 11:48PM

All these fights have been super explosive ... are people still convincing themselves that Strikeforce is a second rate organization? We haven't even got to the main event yet ... what an amazing card thus far ... much better than some other PPV's I've seen lately.

Hopefully the ladies live up to the hype.

8-15-2009 @ 11:52PM

I'll tell you one thing, Mousasi has probably given UFC another reason to hate Strikeforce. On another note, I feel the same way about the UFC's ppvs. They don't seem like they're delivering the spark that I've been used to seeing from them over the last couple of years.

8-15-2009 @ 11:53PM

I've meant to send a reply to you...

8-16-2009 @ 12:34AM

I gotcha.

It's nothing against the matchmaking of some of the UFC cards it's just been the fights themselves that sucked. Another big problem with the UFC PPV's have been that they are top heavy. Dolly Parton syndrome. They just rely one one big fight and if we are lucky a good co-main event. For the most part it's a max of 1 and luckily 2 compelling fights on paper. This was even true for UFC 100 which was supposed to be the crown jewel of the company and wasn't any better than the card top to bottom of UFC 101 & UFC 102. The one thing I will give the now defunct Affliction and to a similar extent Strikeforce (excluding the challenger series) is they have a great televised card from top to bottom.

Look at this Strikeforce card tonight - even with the Werdum vs Overeem, Melendez vs Thompson & Diaz vs Riggs fights cancelled or changed the card was still compelling from top to bottom.

The UFC better worry about Strikeforce because no amount of rhetoric can take away from the fact that Strikeforce is putting on big time shows that don't costs MMA fans $60 a pop to watch.

8-16-2009 @ 12:40AM

I'm glad the event turned out to be good despite the setbacks. I hope that Strikeforce will continue to do well in the future. Likewise, I hope the UFC doesn't make it a habit of putting on 2 ppv events in one month. :P That kind of kills, especially if the events don't turn out to be all that good.

8-16-2009 @ 1:09AM

I agree whole heartedly.

The could of combined UFC 101 & 102 into one card and it would have been worth every penny of $60. As it stands I'm not going to spend $120 in a 4 week period to watch MMA regardless of how good the main event is on paper. The only time I even order UFC fights is when I can get at least 3 other buddies to throw down $10-$15 bucks a pop for the fight and Pizza. Otherwise, I've got a wife and kids and can't justify paying that type of money to watch the fight by myself. I'll stream it online or catch the replay the next day online.

I wish the UFC would go back to fights being in that $20 price point OR have less cards that are stacked. WHo the hell wants to see Kurt Pellegrino fight Josh Neer, Johnny Hendricks fight Amir Sadollah, Kendall Grove fight Richardo Almedia and Aaron Riley fight Shane Nelson on PPV? No one outside of their immediate friends and family. Nothing against those guys but they aren't worth paying money to watch ... especially good money. Even if they put on a good fight there is nothing compelling there short of Amir Sadollah & kendall Grove winning TUF. That card was all about Anderson Silva vs Forrest Griffin (which was not competitive) and BJ Penn vs Kenny Florian (which was not competitive) and it turned out to be an awful card.

I do think from top to bottom that UFC 102 is a solid card (better than UFC 100 imo) ... with Couture and Noguiera, Jardine and Silva, Leben and Rosholt, Marquardt and Maia and Vera vs Soszynski. But, thats still not a $60 card IMO.

Imagine if UFC 101 was Penn vs Florian, Silva vs Griffin, Couture vs Noguiera, Jardine vs Silva and Marquardt vs Maia ... not THAT would be what the UFC used to be in the earlier days.

This is why competition is a good thing ... Strikeforce will force the UFC to step it's game up and stop resting on it's laurels.

8-16-2009 @ 8:26AM

After thinking about it for a while, I have to agree not every card the UFC showcases is really ppv worthy. I guess it's pretty much because they don't have a major tv deal like with HBO huh? By the way, do you really have to pay $60 for an event on your end?

I also meant to state above that the UFC's PPVs weren't all that great THIS year not the past couple of years. It's not that the events this year were bad in anyway, but it's like I mentioned earlier. I actually consider UFC 95 & 96 to be the best UFC events this year. Not bad considering one was free and the other was not exactly PPV worthy lol (93, 98, and 100 were also good imo). Let's also not forget the last to WEC events which so far seem like they outbest the UFC PPVs, albeit WEC is part of the UFC.

As far as competition goes, try telling that to Dana White. :P

8-16-2009 @ 12:31AM

Niv said...

Well I have to say I'm glad Mousassi didn't disappoint, he's the real deal as many have been stating.

I love watching this guy fight and he's only 22 years old. He reminds me of Shogun when he burst onto the scene at 20 years old.

On that note I can't wait to see Shogun claim his rightful place at the top of the 205lb division.

Regardless good job, I can't wait to see Mousassi fight again.

8-16-2009 @ 12:38AM

I think Mousasi is 24 but yeah he is for real. The guy has also moved between weight classed from middleweight to heavyweight (super heavyweight opponents) and has dominated all his opponents. This is of course also discounting his impressive performances in K-1 as well.

The guy is just a fighter through and through who can do it all ... strike, submit etc ... he is a well rounded fighter with a steely cold demeanor.

I can't wait to see if he cracks MDS's next P4P list ... there is no way (no disrespect to these fighters) that he should be rated behind guys like Rashad Evans, Mike Brown, Brian Bowles and even Miguel Torres at this point. I pretty much have him up there with the likes of Fedor, Penn, GSP, Silva & Machida.

8-16-2009 @ 12:43AM

This is the first time I've seen Gegard Mousasi fight (finally). I definitely look forward to seeing him in action against other top opponents.

8-16-2009 @ 12:53AM

I'll call it my top 10 something like this ...

1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Anderson Silva
3. Lyoto Machida
4. Gegard Mousasi (Up from # 7)
5. Georges St.Pierre (Down from # 4)
6. BJ Penn (Down from # 5)
7. Rampage Jackson (Down from # 6)
8. Mauricio Rua
9. Shinya Aoki
10. Paulo Filho

I'm tempted to moved GSP below BJ Penn for his inability to finish opponents and his reluctance to move up to middleweight and fight like we have seen from Penn & Silva. But, I'll leave him where he is at for now in the rankings. However, much like many think Fedor will be penalized for not fighting top flight competition this could happen to GSP ... who is going to challenge him at WW? Martin Kampman or Mike Swick? Don't think so ... GSP needs to step his game up and fight some middleweights ... I think a GSP vs Dan Henderson fight at MW would be pretty amazing. Let him get accustomed to the weight before he gets destroyed by Silva ... if he isn't ducking that fight. Still, GSP has nothing to be ashamed of he just needs to finish fighters when he has them beaten.

Old rankings prior to tonight:
http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/08/10/mma-top-10-pound-for-pound-anderson-silva-makes-a-move-not-to/