Currently ranked number two middleweight in the world Gegard Mousasi improved his win streak to twelve by submitting PRIDE veteran Mark Hunt in the first round of DREAM.9’s “Super Hulk” tournament on Tuesday May 26th in Yokohama, Japan.
Mousasi’s strategy coming into the fight worked perfectly. “I didn’t want to trade with him,” he confirmed. “My gameplan was to force a takedown by punching.” Mousasi will advance to the semi-finals of the “Super Hulk” tournament where he will face either Ikuhisa Minowa, Hong Man Choi, or Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou who all walked away with victories on Tuesday.
In a post-fight interview Mousasi was asked to address rumors that he will be fighting former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort for Affliction on August 1st. Mousasi confirmed the rumors as being true, “Yes, those [rumors] are true and I will be fighting Vitor Belfort.” There is no word yet on what weight class the fight will take place but speculation is it could be at light heavyweight as opposed to middleweight.
The August 1, 2009 “Affliction 3” fight card will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. It will be the 23-year-old Armenian, Gegard Mousasi’s first ever fight on American soil. Mousasi with a record of 24-2-1 holds notable wins over Hector Lombard (19-2-1), Evangelista Santos (16-12), Denis Kang (32-11-1), Melvin Manhoef (23-5-1), and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (10-2).
Mousasi’s upcoming opponent Vitor Belfort (18-8) is on a four-fight win streak and was last in the ring at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” back in January where he knocked out a very tough Matt Lindland (21-6) in just 37 seconds. Prior to that, he knocked out Terry Martin (18-7) in July of ’08.
Other bouts set for “Affliction 3” include Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett, Jay Hieron vs. Paul Daley, and Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon.
By: Jack Bratcher