Now that we have had some time to digest the fights that occurred on Saturday night, it’s time to take a sneak peek into the futures of the ten mixed martial artists who fought on the main card.
Rafael Cavalcante:
By the looks of things it seems as though “Feijao” will get the first shot at Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal. Cavalcante is more less put in this position because of the lack of depth in the division. The only other fighter who could be considered is the man Mousasi defeated for the title, Renato “Babalu” Sobral.
As luck would have it Sobral will be fighting next month in a catchweight bout against Robbie Lawler. Mousasi will have to win a bout or two before getting a shot at redemption, leaving Cavalcante as the only real option. The light heavyweight division is relatively weak right now.
Antwain Britt:
No one expected Britt to lose in the manner he did. You leave your hands down while throwing wild punches and you get caught. As I explained with Cavalcante, the light heavyweight division is severely lacking right now in Strikeforce.
I think Britt is the perfect match-up for Mousasi. He has a solid wrestling base that should show whether or not Mousasi has improved his take down defense since his bout with Lawal. If Strikeforce chooses to go in a different direction with Mousasi they could pair Britt up with Roger Gracie. Until Strikeforce begins bringing in some legitimate light heavyweights we will contemplate the same match-ups over and over again.
Roger Gracie:
I could tell you to see above, but that wouldn’t be much fun. We all know what Gracie brings to the cage. He has outstanding jiu-jitsu and a legendary name that could either drive him to succeed or force him to wilt under the pressure. He has a long way to go before we start pronouncing him as the second coming.
He did what he had to do with Kevin Randleman. He stayed on the outside and when an opportunity to go to the ground presented itself he took it. His experience is so limited that you have to be concerned with who he fights at this point. I say give him Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, another fighter with no ground skills, but one who has lethal power in his hands.
Kevin Randleman:
It’s time for Randleman to hang it up. With three losses in a row and 10 losses in his last thirteen bouts he has nothing left to offer. It could be a sad ending to what was once a great career.
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza:
I was overly impressed with Souza at times during his bout with Joey Villasenor. And then there were times I was left scratching my head. He was able to take Villasenor down at will and put himself in so many advantageous situations, but couldn’t finish his opponent. His striking continues to improve, but I was concerned with the fact that Villasenor was able to escape from the bottom so many times.
Souza is a beast and hopefully he will continue to improve and learn from his mistakes. The one opponent everyone would like to see him fight is Jason “Mayhem” Miller. They have fought twice under the Dream banner with Souza winning the first by decision and the second ending in a no-contest. They don’t like each other at all, but Strikeforce will have to wait and see if Miller gets suspended because of his role in Nashville.
Thankfully there are a lot of good fighters in the Strikeforce division who can offer Souza a challenge. If Miller is unavailable my next pick would be Dan Henderson. A bout with Henderson would help raise Souza’s value and get more people interested in him. This could wind up being for the vacant middleweight title as well all know Jake Shields is going to the UFC as soon as he possibly can.