It appears that a failure to agree on an appropriate weight class has shelved the rumored bout between Gegard Mousasi and Vitor Belfort at the Affliction: ‘Trilogy’ event, as M-1 Global today reports that Mousasi instead will remain at light heavyweight to challenge current Strikeforce 205-pound champion Renato Sobral on August 1.
Mousasi surrendered his DREAM middleweight title to focus on competing at a higher weight class. He is currently focusing on light heavyweight but has not ruled out a possible move to heavyweight in the near future.
Unfortunately Vitor Belfort recently abandoned the 205-pound division to compete at middleweight. Despite a strong desire by promoters and of course fans to see them square off, both men remained steadfast in their commitment to their new weight classes, effectively ending any chance of an August 1 bout.
The now-defunct deal has paved the way for one of the world’s top talents at light heavyweight to put his dirty diapers behind him and come back to the fight world against Mousasi.
Sobral was forced to withdraw from his first-ever light heavyweight title defense against former Elite XC superstar, Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante, at the Strikeforce: ‘Lawler vs. Shields’ event slated for the the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., on June 6, due to the birth of his child in late May.
Babalu has won four straight fights since departing from the UFC in late 2007, including a decision win over Mike Whitehead at Affliction: “Banned,” a submission win over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at Affliction: “Day of Reckoning” and a first round technical knockout win over Bobby Southworth at Strikeforce: “Destruction” to win the promotion’s 205-pound strap.
He will need every ounce of that experience (and his jiu-jitsu chops) to stymie Mousasi.
“The Young Vagabond” (25-2-1) is fresh off a first round submission win over Mark Hunt at Dream 9 on May 26. Mousasi is riding a twelve-fight winning streak with victories over Denis Kang, Melvin Manhoef and Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza. 23 of his 25 wins have been either submission or (T)KO stoppages.
Affliction 3: “Trilogy” will feature a main event between WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko and top-ranked division player, Josh Barnett. Also in action, former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia collides with former Strikeforce and UFC heavyweight striker Paul Buentello.
To check out the latest fight card and rumors for Affliction 3: “Trilogy” click here.
70 Comments »
Siiiiiiick……this fight should be awesome! Babalu sub rd 2!
for sure, awesome fight… anyone know if this is for the title?
Almost certainly not, I doubt Strikeforce wants their title being dropped to a guy not in their promotion.
hell yeah!! im the biggest mousasi fan..actually it doenst matter if it is for the title or not..i jst wanna see the vegabond back in the mix…its so cool im so pumped up!
Mousasi hasnt fought anybody, i dont see Babalu submitted Mousasi tho. Babalu by decision.
MOusasi by complete domination!!!!!!!!!!
WAR MOUSASI!!!!!!!!!!
great fight, i see gegard winning it.
WOW, really good fight. Actually a tough one to pick!
C’mon Kev, pick one! They’re both on the same level of talent, but I’ll give the edge to Babalu b/c of experience.
Babalu might have the experience behind him but Mousasi is way better on the feet than his opponent. I see a Mousasi R2/3 TKO or UD victory.
I’ll pick one, don’t worry! leaning towards babalu now!
i gotta agree with kevin here leaning towards babalu but just because of experience on the top level
thats it, Gagard is a monster, but Babalu has fought the best, time and again!
Mousasi ALL THE WAY!!! I’ve made mistakes on picking fighters to win just because I like them. Not the case with Mousasi. The guy is really young, and is just entering his pre-prime years! The best is still to come!
Mousasi is a smart fighter, so I dont think he will try to mess around on the ground vs Babalu, even though he could definitely hang there. Mousasi is a finisher, dont expect scorecards to come into effect here.
This is the type of year Gegard should have started with earlier. Look for the rest of this year to keep having Mousasi on the headlines. After he WINS the Super Hulk Tourny, I hope to see him fight TITO or LIL NOG for Affliction’s LHW title.
GREAT fight! I Hate picking against my boy Babz but I gotta go with Gegard. why you ask? Cause he FOCKING trains with FeDOR!!!! DUH!!!!! lol
Babalu has been doing it longer and has been in the ring/cage against the best Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson, Shogun (Japanese Shogun = ZING), and even Fedor.
BUT he is nearing the end of his career where is Gegard has yet to reach his prime – he is still improving fight to fight. Babalu just seems to implement different strategies from fight to fight – I don’t notice much improvement over the past couple of years.
I am thinking that the odds will open even, or very close to even with Babalu as the slight favorite. I like Gegard to win the fight and will wager on him as well, with a LOT going on him if he opens as the underdog.
DREAM also ANNOUNCED that MOusasi vs. Sokoudjou would meet in the 2nd round of the tournament. I love mOusasi, but I am not a fan of fighters having 2 fights lined up. Hope he can stay focused on the task at hand, and not look ahead to his fight with Babz…or MOusasi will get upset!
probably so they’re guarenteed a fighter from Japan in the final
By Soko???
I think Gegard will have the striking advantage, and Soko will be hesitant to take Gegard to the ground cuz of his slick BJJ, and Soko is not the best at defending against submissions – that comes from experience.
I’ll put it in simpler terms…Soku sucks!
This fight is alright and everything but all am sayin is that babz needs to stop ducking Feijao. Hopefully he can get the mousasi win so that it’ll be that much better when he is fed to Raphael. As far as mousasi soko, it was a given, just like warren and bibiano will get matchedup next. Without a japanese guy in the finals, no one will watch the telecast so they don’t have a choice in the way they make matchups.
Soku does indeed, and I’m sticking with one of my favorites, Babalu. But I’m not doubting Mousasi’s power. This is Mousasi’s year. hope to see him end up in Affliction. And if by any chance Affliction folds, then hope I get to see him under the UFC banner.
NNR: I was pleased to read that DREAM 9 pulled in pretty good ratings! Dream officials are happy!
So… is the Soko fight first or the Babz fight? Mousasi wins either way, just wondering whos gonna be destroyed sooner. Mousasi may have a striking advantage vs Soko, but with him being as intelligent has he is, I see him taking Soko down and submitting him that way, really early.
Mousasi is the MAN! He will PWN this tournament. Affliction put him vs Lil Nog!!
sorry syd but your going down with this one..gut huge respect for babalu..but he is up against the future so just stay tuned Kababayan..HAHAH
Great fight and very competitive too.
I never count out Babalu’s toughness and skillset but I just see Mousassi as being the future of the sport and taking this one and the Soko fight will prove that this guy is for real.
For all the doubters who say he was lucky in the Dream tournament last year will see what Mousassi is capable of this year by taking the Strikeforce LHW title as well as the Super Hulk tourny title too.
Yeah Ca$Z, MOusasi is poised to go on a TEAR in whatever organization he fights in.
Syn: Im not sure who he will face 1st Babz, or Soko.
Possible opponents I would like to see MOusasi face in the future:
Lil NOg
Matsyushenko
Fejao
Vitor (if they can agree on a catch weight)
Tito (he would utterly DESTROY TITO)
I would even like to see him fight Buentello at Heavyweight!
He would kill Mattyshenko John. Affliction needs to set up a little LHW tourny on the fly, starting with this one. Match up Tito vs Nog, and BAM! 4 man tourny with 4 of Affliction’s best LHWs.
Any complaints?
perfect! I hope this fight happens.
babalu is starting to make me a fan just by how much he is fighting now and takes the best fight he is offered.. i got babalu upsetting mousasi by tko
Babalu has always been GANGSTA!! lol, he willing to fight whoever!
To bad the Vitor fight wouldn’t go through, but this is definitely a top quality substitute. Mousasi in 3.
Decent fight! Babalu is not that good of a fighter so I think Mousasi will take it. I know Babalu gets alot of love on this site, but hes not that good. Hes only champ cause he fought Southworth, I mean c-mon hes average at best.
huh??? He’s top ten in the world and deservedly so imo.
Agreed Mac. JV, Babalu is the sh*t and he always brings it. He has fought the best fighters in the world and brings a ton of expierence. This is great match-up.
yeah he is a great lhw, not in the top 5 but still great, you should see the love he gets at the events he is one of the most cheered for at the afflitcion shows.
I agree JV, he gets way too much love here. Who has he beaten? He was exposed when he fought in the UFC.
Babalu is still Babalu it doesn’t matter who he’s beaten or not..
haha “exposed” is one funny way to put it. the guy has 40 fights more than couture liddell shogun etc.. notable wins over whitehead, southworth, sokoudjou, wiuff, &shogun, has notable battles with randleman, henderson, FEDOR, beat other notable MWs prangley, sonnen, jeremy horn. he’s definetely beaten a bunch of good fighters
Did he not beat Horn, Prangley and another fighter all in one night. That is impressive whether they are UFC fighters or not. The guy has some serious skills and is one of my favourites as well, it was more his own mistakes than the skill of his opponets that lost him his fights against Chuck and Lambert. Babalu definately has more experience, but after watching Musashi get completely dismantled in K1 Dynamite, I am leaning more towards Mousasi. Should be a good one.
It was Shogun that he also beat that night..
I agree w/ JV too. I hate how all these UFC dropouts get all this love when they start winning in other organizations.
dropout?? Hardly. He got cut for choking Heath out too long? How many dropouts do you know of that got cut on a win??
Okay, okay, he’s not a dropout
. IMO- more often than not, when he fights good competition, he loses. I don’t think he’s top 5 at all, and I’d even question top 10. Top 15 is fair.
ya I’d say he SHOULD be ranked 10, 11, or 12
the question is where should Mousassi be ranked at LHW if he beats him…it’ll be higher than 10 imo as he’s already ranked top 5 (or should be) at MW
10, 11, or 12 is definitely fair. A win over Mousassi will bump him into the top 10 for sure though.
UFC dropouts? ur saying the obvious kid! go and get a clue.. maybe im a mousasi hugger here but babalu is definitely not a dropout! he is one of the best…dont blame ya for watching too much tuf kid!
I really want to see mousasi in the UFC Light heavyweight division!!
Yes, sir. I think he will definitly come if Dana can get Fedor. Make it happen!
IMO this would be the biggest fight for either guy thus far in their careers…
I know Babz has lost some big ones ie.Fedor, Chuck, etc but if he wins it’ll be huge. I would also think that he could possibly be invited back to the UFC however I’ve heard him say no to that question before
Ya unfortunately I dont see it happening any other way though – being that he is in Fedor’s camp/
I think Babalu takes the upset here. His standup might not be as good as Mousasi’s, but the difference is not that huge, while I believe Babalu to be significantly better on the ground.
Get both of these guys back into the UFC LHW Division, and Vitor to the UFC MW division!
I meant get Babalu back… not Mousasi, who was obviously never there to begin with.
My bad :S
i would give mousasi a slight edge in the stand up but just because hes fought at k1 level before it doesnt mean hes leaps and bounds above sobral. this is a close fight but i would like to see the winner fight rogerio or tito.. feijao or mo lawal would also be good fights for the winner
imo i see sobral eek out a decision, also i wouldnt be surprised to see babalu pull an upset sub
Gegard Mousasi VS. Vitor Belfort
OOOOOO good fight!
I’m surprised Synster hasn’t responded to this latest development yet! I like Babalu, but there is no way in hell he’ll beat an unstoppable stud like Mousasi. Mousasi is the future…
lol. I found it sooner than later.
hell yeah!! hahaha! this is really becoming so sweeeeet for me..
babalu vs mousasi
manhoef vs vitor
just wait hope and see guys…
Babalu has a sweet deal worked out fighting for Affliction and Srikeforce hes making bank now.
Oh yeah and JV Babalu really sucks. Your talking about a guy who beat Trevor Prangley, Jermey Horn and Shogun Rua in a one night Tournament. Yeah right hes garbage.
Babalu Sub or decision.
Remember how easily chuck dispatched Babalu? While I am no huge Chuck Liddel fan, it’s kind of sad to remember that Chuck of old, and who we see now.
yea but you have to rem. babalu brought it and played right into chucks hands …. he could of pulled a thales lietes(spelling) fight ….i think babalu will withstand the 1st round barrage and pull off a 2nd or 3rd round choke…then bring on tito
CAN’t wait for this fight!!!! if you hav not seen SaUCIE then u stink!
the ufc doesn not have all the best fighters just look at the last ppv who was that sily giant that just beat that K1 fighter and he got like wat 8,000?
babalu takes this.. 2nd road tko.
Wow…solid fight for a solid card.
Long live Affliction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!