Sokoudjou vs. Gegard Mousasi Planned For Strikeforce Show on CBS

A fight between Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Gegard Mousasi failed to materialize in the Dream Super Hulk Tournament in Japan, but it is now expected to take place in Illinois and be broadcast by CBS as part of the Nov. 7 Strikeforce/M-1 Global card.

FanHouse has learned that Strikeforce has submitted the Sokoudjou-Mousasi fight to Illinois' athletic commission, and pending approval, the fight will take place on the undercard of the Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers show.

Mousasi is the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, but this will be a non-title fight, even though the fight will be contested at the light heavyweight limit of 205 pounds.

Strikeforce has also submitted a heavyweight fight between Fabricio Werdum and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva for approval to the Illinois commission. That fight could be a little trickier to get commission approval because it would be Silva's first fight in the United States since his suspension in California for failing a steroid test in July 2008, but Werdum-Silva is expected to be approved as well.

In addition to Fedor-Rogers, Sokoudjou-Mousasi and Werdum-Silva, a middleweight title fight between Jake Shields and Jason "Mayhem" Miller is scheduled for the CBS broadcast.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

10-09-2009 @ 10:49AM

Milt said...

For all the people I've seen complaining on various blogs about matchs ups not being announced in advance this event is turning into a great card.

This fight here is a pleasant surprise considering all of the Paulo Filho rumors that were being floated around.

10-09-2009 @ 11:03AM

Eric said...

Sokoudjou has good punching power, but he is severely out-gunned in all areas of the fight game by Mousasi. Mousasi is easily top 5 in the world at 205.

The Mayhem vs Sheilds fight is one of my favorites on the card. I want to see the flashy Miller avoid the submission and beat Shields. Shields is a boring, cocky, a-hole IMO.

10-09-2009 @ 4:07PM

richardbikle said...

Eric, i couldnt find the thread, but it did look like warrwn tapped.

10-09-2009 @ 11:10AM

this is a better card than most of the ufc's, this is looking like a night of good fights. dont ask me why, but i think mayhem is going to beat shields. i'll thake fedor (of course), mousasi, and werdum in the others.

10-09-2009 @ 3:10PM

jmend25 said...

Agreed. I am more pumped for this card than most UFC cards. Strikeforce is doing it BIG now. Love the matchups.

10-09-2009 @ 11:42AM

gillygodfried said...

i would say so far this is top 5 events this year, hopefully it dosnt turn out like the last one where ppl got injured/pulled out

10-09-2009 @ 1:03PM

neozoo said...

you guys are killing me,
what's so great about this card?
other than it's free?
seriously, would you pay for this and if so, if this is such a great card how much would you pay?
the only reason you guys are thinking this is a good card is because that it is not a ufc card and that you actually recognize the names.

other than shields/mayhem there is absolutely no drama here.
rogers is gonna get crushed,
sokoudjou sucks,
and who cares about silva/werdum.

additionally, wtf is a non title bout about?
so, if sok actually lands a dream punch then he wins but doesn't win.
what is this, the wwe?
i hate non title fights.
and this is his first fight since winning the title.
omg, if dana tried to pull this you guys would be ripping the sh@t out of him and you know it.

this card is all about fedor, period.
the absolute baddest man on the planet, period.
and yeah, i can't wait to see him too.
(although i'll be rooting against him, in vain)

him destroying rogers, may or may not turn mainstream on, who knows.

i know, all you ufc haters think i'm just ufc ball licking here, but, i'm not.

i want intrigue and drama, not predictability.

if i want to just watch a performance with almost certainty knowing who's gonna win, i would pay to see mayweather, which i won't do.

ufc 100 was great.
ufc 101 completely sucked!
ufc 102 was so so at best.

wec's last card was awesome!
as a matter of fact, most wec cards from top to bottom are better than ufc cards.
and it sucks big time that versus is no longer on dtv.
tomorrows card looks great.

carano/cyborg....other than that fight and the fact that it was free, it was also lame. the main event definately saved that card.

ufc 103
the drama of the main event should carry this one
and there are potentially a couple of good under card fights as well....bader/schafer should be really good and i hope it makes it to the telecast.

now, back to nov. 7----let me back track a bit,
yes the drama alone of seeing fedor....just seeing him is always.....i'm not sure what the right word for it is......other than you know you are watching the baddest man on the planet and maybe the greatest hw of all time.
and yes, as fight fans we always want to see the best. but at the same time we would also like to see him sort of challenged if that is even possible.
rogers is no real challenge, sure he has miracle chance as serra did.
that's why what barnett did, completely sucks.

just because they are feeding us beggars a few crumbs.....it doesn't mean that we have been invited to a gourmet feast.

10-09-2009 @ 1:27PM

Do Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona suck? I don't think so, and most people would agree with me ... Sokoudjou knocked out both in the 1st round in Pride. Losing to guys like Machida, Cain, and Sobral doesn't exactly mean that you "suck", does it?

Do I think that Rogers will beat Fedor? No, but if the takedown doesn't come easily Fedor will have his hands full ... trust me. Rogers has faced limited opposition, but having a record of 10-0 w/ 10 knockouts (yes 10, the one that is called a submission was from strikes) is impressive non the less. Fedor will be giving up 40+ lbs to a guy who can punch ... that is a dangerous situation.

Werdum has wins over Aleksander, Alistair, Vera, and Gonzaga ... all by stoppage. I agree that neither fighter (Werdum or Silva) is particularly popular, but the fight is relevent non the less.

10-09-2009 @ 2:22PM

hey eric,
sok's wins over little nog and arona, appear to have been flash in the pans. and happened in non(drug) tested japan.
his viscousness in those wins have not been able to be duplicated over here.
more specifically his inability to stop takedowns-has been the one potential side effect over here.
if mousasi is whom he appears to be, this should really be no contest.
moreover, this is just an example on how weak sf's lhw division really is.
that they pull him,out of basically nowhere.
and again, not that it will matter but, non-title?

rogers? he only has the dream punch scenerio of winning, period.
and again, because of my dislike of m-1, i will be rooting for that to happen.

werdum/silva? yeah it's always fun to watch hw's.
but this appears strictly b-league.
i could be wrong, but it does look that way.

seriously, i'm not saying this is gonna be ufc 101 bad, but, other than really wanting to see fedor, i wouldn't say,going in,this is a top 5 card. like some of you are.
hey, who knows this may turn out to be the greatest card of all time.

some times you can't really judge a card till the next day, it's just that there are other times going in, things just look so predictable.

10-09-2009 @ 3:08PM

Sokoudjou doesn't appear to have lost any muscle mass or intensity to me. Many fighters did benefit from the lack of testing in Japan, but I don't think Sokoudjou was one of them. If anyone was juicing when Sokoudjou fought Arona, it was Arona.

If you think about this card from a promoters POV it makes sense to have great fighters against somewhat outmatched opponents. Being that the card is on CBS, many people will be seeing Fedor & Mousasi for the first time. Do they really want their stars to lose - in their attempt to reach new fans on network TV?

10-09-2009 @ 3:11PM

LOL, you fail. This is a GREAT card.

10-09-2009 @ 5:04PM

eric,
great point on the not wanting their stars to lose.

any yes, arona is definately a juice monster, however, sok has seemingly kept his size but he may have always been big. but, his intensity has definately fallen off.
anyway, we're beating a dead horse on this one,
he is 99% probably going to lose.

additionally, i'm glad you recognize now the deflation of their belts.
and once again, if dana tried to do this, all the haters would be dragging his nuts as harshly as they could......and they would be rightfully so as well.

so let's not be hippocrites and give coker an easy pass on this as well.

what do you think?

10-09-2009 @ 1:48PM

MidnghtRider21 said...

Mousasi should be defending the title, the problem is there is noone worthy enough for a titleshot in Strikeforces LHW IMO. Sokoudjou, Southworth, and Whitehead were all beaten recently by Babalu who was destroyed by Gegard. Filho would be interesting if they can get it to happen but we know Mousasi will tear through Soko and it will be another 6 months before we see him defend the title.

10-09-2009 @ 2:02PM

Not that the Strikeforce title means anything, but - I agree - he should be defending it. The champion is fighting in his weight division. Why is this not a title fight? This is exactly why the title doesn't mean much ....

10-09-2009 @ 2:25PM

Niv said...

neozoo sorry man I have to disagree with you on this assessment.

This is actually a very compelling card and is very much worth watching.

Fedor as we all know should destroy Rogers, but that's what we expect of Fedor regardless of who's in the ring with him.

Shields is outstanding and Miller is a very game fighter, this should be a great fight as well.

Moussasi vs Soko, ok Moussasi once again should destroy him, but Soko is a dangerous fighter as well. Either way we see a great fighter against a good one.

Werdum vs Silva, this has a ton of potential and I think Silva just might take this one.

As for the UFC, let's understand they are giving us just as many gimme's as SF is here. Think back to recent cards and tell me honestly did you really expect Anderson Silva to get tested by Forrest Griffin, or Dan Henderson against Michael Bisping? The latter fight made it to UFC 100, are you kidding me now? There are all sorts of headliner fights the UFC has put on in the past couple years that were a joke, but that's the biz. How about the next HW title fight? Carwin has nothing more than the big punchers chance, yet people are sold on how Carwin is going to destroy Lesnar.

Honestly I hope I'm proven wrong about my assessment on that last fight, but I just don't see it as being all that competitive aside from the fact that both guys fighting are relatively green still.

This is a fact in fight promotions no matter what the name, it's the nature of the beast.

One final note here, I have a long shot prediction. Dan Henderson signs with SF and they set up a Moussasi vs Hendo LHW title fight. Tell me you wouldn't be into watching that fight?

10-09-2009 @ 2:46PM

hey niv,
as i explained a little further in my reply to eric....i still am looking forward to watching it.
however, this just looks completely predictable.
not really too compelling other than just wanting to see fedor.

yeah, i like shields and like i said that one should be the best fight on the card.
him and diaz are probably my favorite fighters.

and i agree with you about the ufc doing the same thing....fluff with not really much stuff.
but, i rag on them too when i see it.

all i'm saying is, lets wait until the next day to really judge.

yes, it's great that it will be free.
just remember, that is only, because, they realize not many people would actually pay.PPV.