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Strikeforce Fighter Gegard Mousasi Open to Joining the UFC

As far as pure talent is concerned, Gegard Mousasi stands head and shoulders above most.A naturally-gifted athlete, Mousasi has already made waves in the mixed martial arts scene, becoming DREAM’s first middleweight champion at just 23 years old.Now, G…

As far as pure talent is concerned, Gegard Mousasi stands head and shoulders above most.

A naturally-gifted athlete, Mousasi has already made waves in the mixed martial arts scene, becoming DREAM’s first middleweight champion at just 23 years old.

Now, Gegard is regarded as one of the better light heavyweight fighters in his class, with notable victories over the likes of UFC veterans Jake O’Brien, Sokoudjou and Renato Sobral. The bout with Sobral netted Mousasi the Strikeforce title in August of 2009.

The Armenian striker is a veteran of the K-1 circuit as well. In his last outing, he defeated the organization’s heavyweight champion in Kyotaro, earning a hard-fought decision win over the famed Japanese star in a non-title affair.

With a slew of talent already making their way into the UFC from the San Jose based promotion—such as Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem and Cung Le—Mousasi could be a man up for discussion in joining the all-star ranks.

“I think eventually everyone will end up in the UFC if you want to be considered one of the best,” said Mousasi, 26, in an interview with Sherdog.com.

“I’m very open for that, but it’s not really up to me. It depends on if they would like me in the UFC or not, but I’m open to that. … Maybe later on I can try something in boxing, but at this moment, it’s not really realistic. K-1 is not doing well [either]. The only thing around is MMA. That’s what I need to focus on. I’m leaving all of the other stuff around and just focusing on MMA.”

While Gegard remains optimistic of his appeal to the higher ups of the UFC, president Dana White set the record straight a long time ago about how he feels.

“I want (Mousasi) and I want Fedor (Emelianenko), I want to do it,” said White during the post-fight press conference for UFC 108 in January of last year.

The whole process of signing either man proved difficult when both were under the M-1 Global banner. However, Gegard has since left his previous management team and could be free and clear to join the ranks of the organization without much hassle.

“I never say never, so like I said they can call me right now and we can start talking and try to figure this thing out, but I would love to get Mousasi in here. He should be, he deserves to be (in the UFC),” White added. “I like him, I’ve said it many times. I like him a lot, I’d love to get him in here and try him out with some of these other guys.”

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

7 Fan-centric Fights for Anderson Silva Now That He’s Beaten Everyone

(All in favor of seeing Anderson attempt to improve his moneyweight record, say ‘I.'”)

Since Anderson Silva has effectively cleared out the UFC’s middleweight division and will likely eventually start a string of rematches against the likes of Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson, we figured why not come up with a list of fights he could take in the interim that stoke the fires of fans.

Check them out, in no particular order after the jump.

(All in favor of seeing Anderson attempt to improve his moneyweight record, say ‘I.’”)

Check them out, in no particular order after the jump.

Strikeforce Booking Alert: Mousasi vs. Kyle, Gurgel vs. Duarte

(Careful, Gegard. If he bites you, you become one of them. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

According to a new report, former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi could meet Mike Kyle at the promotion’s September 10th card (venue TBA).

The two fighters were originally scheduled to meet at the ‘Diaz vs. Daley’ card in April, but Kyle was forced to withdraw due to a broken hand; Mousasi wound up fighting to a disappointing draw against late-replacement Keith Jardine. The “Armenian Assassin” is already slated to defend his DREAM light-heavyweight belt against Hiroshi Izumi in Tokyo on July 16th.

(Careful, Gegard. If he bites you, you become one of them. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

According to a new report, former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi could meet Mike Kyle at the promotion’s September 10th card (venue TBA).

As for Kyle, the American Kickboxing Academy moneyweight vet most recently suffered a TKO loss against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva — after stepping in as an injury replacement for Valentijn Overeem last December — but he’s 2-0 as a light-heavyweight under the Strikeforce banner, with stoppage wins over Rafael Cavalcante and Ron “Abongo” Humphrey. In other booking news…

Jorge Gurgel has confirmed that he will face Joe Duarte in the main event of Strikeforce Challengers 18 (August 12th; Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas). In March, Zoila’s husband snapped a two-fight Strikeforce losing streak by choking out journeyman Billy Vaughn in 44 seconds. Duarte, who you may vaguely remember from TUF 8, is on a four-fight win streak, most recently submitting Saad Awad in April.

MMA Knockout of the Day: Tsuyoshi Kurihara Nailed by a Knee from Gegard Mousasi

In a light heavyweight bout between Gegard Mousasi and Tsuyoshi Kurihara, it only took 10 seconds for this knockout to occur.
Mousasi is a devastating striker, and in only his 11th career bout, he helped prove it even more.
In the beginning Kurihara co…

In a light heavyweight bout between Gegard Mousasi and Tsuyoshi Kurihara, it only took 10 seconds for this knockout to occur.

Mousasi is a devastating striker, and in only his 11th career bout, he helped prove it even more.

In the beginning Kurihara comes in strong and gets within close range of Mousasi. Then, Mousasi ends up turning the tides and gets a couple good strikes in and lands a beautiful knee to the dome of Kurihara.

Kurihara quickly drops to the mat and Mousasi gets another shot or two in before the ref finally stops the fight, only ten seconds into the match.

This bout started a string of knockouts for Mousasi. In Mousasi’s next two fights, he would earn a knockout victory within the first minute of the fight. Mousasi is currently 30-3-2 in his MMA career coming off a heavily criticized draw with Keith Jardine.

Mousasi most recently won the Dream light heavyweight title and is the former holder of Strikeforce’s light heavyweight title. A scary thought considering Mousasi is only 25 years old and still becoming a better fighter.

Since the knockout in December of 2005, Kurihara has won four straight bouts with his most recent win coming in March of last year. Kurihara spent four years away from the sport of MMA between 2006 and 2010. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the reason to his absence from MMA.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Photo of the Day: Pigs Fly, Josh Barnett and Dana White Reunite

(“By the way, my offer to piss in your mouth? I’m still down if you are.” Photo courtesy of JoshLBarnett.)

The UFC is holding its annual Fighter Summit this week in Las Vegas, bringing together the entire UFC and Strikeforce rosters for the purposes of education and camaraderie — pretty boring stuff, judging from Gegard Mousasi’s amazingly child-like doodles. But it did provide opportunities for old rivals to rub shoulders. Josh Barnett posted this photo yesterday evening with the note, “Pigs have now flown. Watch for Hell to freeze over next. Me and @danawhite together again.”

Barnett has publicly criticized the UFC and Dana White in the past, but when Zuffa bought Strikeforce in March, all of a sudden DW was a pretty fucking metal dude in Josh’s opinion. (That’s a compliment.) Barnett is scheduled to face Brett Rogers at Strikeforce’s “Overeem vs. Werdum” event on June 18th in Dallas. Whether he has a future in the company after that is still anybody’s guess, no matter how friendly he and Dana appear to be when somebody’s pointing a camera-phone at them.

(“By the way, my offer to piss in your mouth? I’m still down if you are.” Photo courtesy of JoshLBarnett.)

UFC 129 Results: Rory MacDonald and the Top 25 Fighters 25 or Younger

A couple of times a year it is important to take a close look at who the young up and comers are in the sport.Although it is a sport that is in it’s infancy, time can pass quite quickly for those of us paying close attention.We have seen tons of young …

A couple of times a year it is important to take a close look at who the young up and comers are in the sport.

Although it is a sport that is in it’s infancy, time can pass quite quickly for those of us paying close attention.

We have seen tons of young dynamos rise up and entrench themselves into the spotlight, but for every batch maturing into veterans, there is a new batch hungrier and more talented than the last.

Some are practically veterans by the age of 25, while others are hot prospects with unlimited potential.

These are the top 25 MMA athletes that are 25 years or younger.

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