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UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben
October 18th, 2008 8 PM
Luis Arthur Cane vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
UFC Betting Pick: Luis Cane
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UFC Light Heavyweight fight: Luis Arthur Cane vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
Rameau Thierry "The African Assassin" Sokoudjou (5-2-0) is a fighter that came into the UFC with a lot of hype, but his performance has been luke warm. To understand the recent history of Rameau you have to go back to his PRIDE fight against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (the lighter of the two Nog brothers). He was a 16 to 1 underdog and managed to knock out the big man in 23 seconds. Since entering the UFC however, he lost to the much more impressive looking Machida, and then won to an injury TKO against the ho-hum average fighter, Kazuhiro Nakamura at UFC 84 - Ill Will.
Don't get me wrong, Sokoudjou is an impressive physical specimen. He's a former U.S. Judo National Champion, and a regular BJJ player. But one has to question his training sometimes. He has a reputation for injuring his training partners, including multiple reports of him screwing up people's knees in training (including Frank Shamrock once, who he put in a knee brace). He rolls with Team Quest South now, which is a good camp. But he wasn't ready for Machida, and he might not be ready for this one either.
The big question marks will be confidence and speed. If he has those, he has a decent shot. Given his opponent, he shouldn't need long haul conditioning. His best chance is coming out quick and landing a brutal blow in the first 30 seconds.
Luis "Banha" Arthur Cane (8-1-0) is one of those guys that you hear about doing very well in the lower echelons of MMA, that needed to make the jump to the big time early last year and prove that his skills could be applied against seasoned MMA veterans, under those hot prime-time spotlights. So far he's only made one mistake, a DQ on his otherwise spotless record.
When I talk about Banha's record, I have to remind myself that we've seen this kind of thing before, and it hardly ever pans out in the long term (unless your name is Fedor). But there's really no other way to put it: No fight he's been in has ever gone past the first round. In fact, no timed fight he's ever been in has gotten to the 3 minute mark. His one loss was because he was trying to crush James Irvin's face with his knee while they were on the ground. That's a UFC no-no.
All that having been said, Cane's Muay Thai is sick. Is BJJ is good. He's serious about his body and has a degree in physical education. And he trains like a beast; very much the wake-eat-train-sleep mentality. He trains under the respected Eduardo Pamplona for Muay Thai (a 7 and 2 MMA fighter himself) and the legendary Moisés Gibi for Muay Thai (37 and 4).
Bottom Line: With two good strikers, there is always an element of the 'puncher's chance' of course. But all things being equal, Cane should destroy Sokoudjou. His technical striking is better, his speed and agility is better, he has more experience and better training.
Look for Cane to KO Sokoudjou in 2 minutes flat... or less.
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