Gegard Mousasi is hands down one of the least talked about top talents in the sport today.
Widely regarded my many of the MMA hardcore as one of the very best pound for pound fighters in the world, Mousasi plans on taking his respect as he prepares for the most high profile bout of his twenty eight fight career to date.
The extremely dangerous Dutch-Armenian will be looking to celebrate his twenty fourth birthday in style as he faces off with the top rated Renato “Babalu” Sobral in a light-heavyweight match-up on August 1 in Anaheim, California as part of the “Affliction: Trilogy” main card.
It would be impossible for Gegard to not have a certain level of confidence going into the bout with Babalu following a dozen consecutive victories, but according to the Red Devil trained brawler, training alongside the greatest fighter on the planet has done wonders for his mind-set.
“Standing next to Fedor, I feel so much bigger than him,” explained Mousasi in a recent press release issued through Affliction. “When you train with him, he feels like a middleweight. He’s as strong as a heavyweight but as fast as a middleweight, so I think that makes him special. If I can take my speed as a middleweight, have that explosiveness and mobility and move up to heavyweight, I think that’s something a lot of them don’t have.”
Having polished off the likes of Denis Kang, Melvin Manhoef, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Mark Hunt over the last year has left Mousasi feeling like there isn’t a man alive that can finish him.
“I feel always that I’m physically stronger than my opponents,” said the former DREAM middleweight champion. “I feel like my opponents can’t hurt me because I’m always comfortable in stand-up and there hasn’t been a fighter that’s ground-and-pounded me,” he says. “I feel like I can hurt them, but they can’t hurt me.”
Without a doubt, Babalu poses one of the toughest tests, if not the toughest, of Mousasi’s six year career in MMA.
“Babalu is a big challenge,” said Mousasi. “I like the way he fights—he fights to win. He’s a real fighter. I like fighters who come to fight. This fight will be and all out war. I think the fans will get an exciting fight.
“Even if he could take me down, I don’t see him (being able to) ground and pound me. I don’t see him getting mount or top position (or) that he can do any damage. I don’t see him submit(ting) me. So eventually it’ll be a stand up fight again. And sooner or later, I’ll catch him.”
