Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (5-2) bursted on to the MMA scene at Pride 33 when he knocked out highly favored veteran Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira (click here to see)(Twin brother of the current Heavyweight Champion) in 33 seconds of the opening bell. He then followed his KO of a top ten ranked fighter with another when he KO'd Ricardo Arona (click here to see)at Pride 34 at 1:59 of the opening bell. As we all know he came to the UFC looking to extend his streak of top 10 Knockouts when he faced Lyoto Machida at UFC 79, but his striking was neutralized by Machida and he was tapped out with a arm triangle on the ground. Sokoudjou bounced back with a very impressive win at UFC 84 over fellow Pride veteran Kazuhiro Nakamura. He looked dominant in his win finishing the fight with a kick and punch combination which finished the fight at the closing bell of the first round. Now "The African Assassin" will be looking to extend his impressive wins resume when he faces Luis Cane (8-1) at UFC 89 in England.Cane himself likes to stand and bang getting the best of James Irvin at UFC 79:Nemesis until he was disqualified for a illegal knee to Irvin's face (click here to see).
Irvin who many considered to be putting on an acting performance was not able to stand and finish the fight. The referee called the bout at 1:51 of the first round and Irvin was awarded the win. He followed his disappointing loss with a win over UFC veteran James Lambert in impressive fashion knocking him out at UFC 85:Bedlam. Cane was back to his winning ways with 8 wins in his last 9 fights. With both of these fighters looking to swing for the fences this should make for a very fan friendly fight that I will be looking forward to.
