Why Gegard Mousasi should permanently move back down to the middleweight division

[WrestlingSmarks News]

Gegard Mousasi(left) and Keith Jardine fought to a majority draw


This past weekend we saw Gegard Mousasi earn a majority draw against UFC veteran Keith Jardine in a light heavyweight fight.

Mousasi won the fight, but a point deduction for an illegal up-kick cost him the fight on the judges’ scorecards.

Mousasi needs to take a look at this fight and make some adjustments.

Here are two major talking*points*from the fight:

• Jardine took the fight on very short notice, was visibly gassed by the second round and Mousasi couldn’t finish him.
• Jardine took Mousasi down six times.

Mousasi not being able to finish Jardine tells me Mousasi’s power doesn’t translate well as a light heavyweight. Mousasi hit Jardine with 122 head-shots according to FightMetric with 40 of them being power shots. Jardine isn’t*known for having the best chin as of late, and over half of his career losses have been via TKO/KO.

We already knew that Mousasi’s take-down defense wasn’t very good. You can excuse giving up take-downs to wrestlers the caliber of King Mo Lawal, but you can’t let Keith Jardine take you down like that when wrestling*isn’t his strong suit.

What do you think would happen against the Jon Jones, Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson, Dan Henderson and Ryan Baders of the world?

That’s right, he would get taken down at will, and more than likely would not be able to finish those guys with strikes, or submit them.

I think Mousasi is better suited to moving back down to the middleweight division where he would be able to compete on a more level playing field because he’s*a small light heavyweight anyway.

The middleweight division is where he has*enjoyed the best success of his career, announcing himself to the MMA world by winning the DREAM middleweight GP in 2008.

He already owns a win over the current Strikeforce middleweight champion in Ronaldo “Jacare†Souza. He also owns a win over current Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard.

The 185-pound division is a better fit for Mousasi in that there are not as many power wrestlers to deal with and he would not have to worry about such a huge size difference.*A permanent move back down to middleweight would be best for the Armenian’s future success.

Filed Under: Gegard Mousasi • Strikeforce

Tags: featured, Gegard Mousasi, Keith Jardine, Mixed Martial-Arts, Strikeforce






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