Babalu Sobral Doesn’t Want Strikeforce Title Shot vs. King Mo, Hopes to Rematch Dan Henderson
After outpointing Robbie Lawler on Wednesday in the main event of “Strikeforce: Los Angeles” to earn another shot at the light heavyweight title, former champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral said he won’t fight his friend and current 205-pound champ Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and instead hopes to rematch Dan Henderson.
“Of course, I want to be a champion again but I’m old school and he is my friend and friends last longer than title belts,” Sobral said. “In the beginning of my career I fought Dan Henderson in Japan and lost to him. I don’t want to disrespect, but I would like to fight him. It would be an honor to fight him again, to have the chance to fight Dan Henderson.”
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Pictured: Renato “Babalu” Sobral
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I’d like to see the sobral – henderson fight made . Sobral looked good last night and would have to bring his A game for a solid shot at winning . Can he do it ? Probably not , henderson has the ground skills to stop babalu …… I see henderson winning via GnP in the second .
As for who’s next for King Mo … give Mousasi a rematch . I think it was just a bad night for Gegard the first time they met . And since there is really anybody else at this point why not ?
People said the same thing about Henderson having the ground skills to stop Shields and we know how that turned out.
Whay have Champions in Strikeforce, anyway?
Hey, its not like the UFC doesn’t have its share of reluctant fighters waving off fights with title implications because of friendship…
;-)
I can’t really blame Sobral for wanting to rematch Hendo, after seeing his sh!t-awful performance against Jake Shields.
Apparently if you can make it out of the first round with the 2010 SF Hendo, you’re golden…
I guess since he survived Lawler’s power for 3 rounds, he can survive Hendo’s for just one. Maybe that’s his thinking.
Yeah i agree.
Hendo’s performance in a sense was worse then lidell getting ktfo. Lidell looked pretty good but hendo, even though he didn’t get ktfo looked bad and pretty “old”.
I wonder what his place is in mma at the moment. I thought if he beat shields he could chalenge for the 205 title as well but after a loss like that, he’d have to whoop on babalu before getting a shot at mo where he’d likely lose the way he did against shields.
Any thoughts on hendo’s future anyone besides a possible bablu rematch?
Hendo’s future is basically up to Hendo.
What I mean is if Hendo is serious about goldholding, then he can’t take a lot of downtime between fights, he can’t do these shady weightcuts which kill his stamina, and he sure as sh!t can’t decide to fight for 5 minutes of a fight.
Remember, Hendo looked “old” and “slow” only from minute 6 and on in the Shields fight.
In the first 4 minutes or so, Shields got beat like he owed Hendo money. While its a testament to Shields’ quality as a fighter then he didn’t bail right then and there, its a bigger testament to Hendo’s lack of committment to the fight, which in a way seemed disrespectful to both Strikeforce and Shields in some way.
Shields came trained and ready to fight, and Hendo came in to see if Shields could last for a few minutes, and when he did he spent the next 20 minutes avoiding gettig subbed.
Not what his supporters [and potential Clinch Gear customers] wanted to see, and IMO definitely not what Scott Coker is paying for.
I’m a longtime Hendo supporter, but his failure to come ready to fight against Shields was a disservice to all concerned, and is something he seriously needs to make up for in his next outing…
I like the idea of Bablu vs Hendo one more time. While it’s counterproductive for Strikeforce to advertise the title shot and not deliver, this fight might be more of a money-maker. Maybe a push for a 195lb belt?
I think the problem with Sobral-Hendo 2 is one of promotability.
For the serious MMA fan, we only have to know the date and time, and we’re onboard.
But for those much-coveted casual fans, who everyone always tells me greatly outnumber the serious fans, whats in it for them?
Casual fans have short memories and little to no MMA historical perspective, best I can tell.
Hendo looked like a tired old man against Jake Shields in 4 of the 5 rounds of their fight, and IMO thats what the bulk of casual fans will remember.
If Strikeforce is attempting to re-launch Sobral’s career as a contender, then where is the benefit of a Hendo fight?
If Hendo returns to form and kills Sobral, then SF has 2 guys with recent 1-1 records, which is ok but not great.
If Hendo is really past his expiration date and once again underperforms, then all Sobral has done is thrown some old guy a beating, which doesn’t do wonders for his career, especially if he’s currently disinterested in their 205 title.
Before Sobral rematches Hendo, I think Hendo needs to establish himself in SF, and do so in “Holy Sh!t!” fashion, if he’s still able.
Otherwise, a Sobral win over Hendo isn’t worth what it should be to his career, and really not worth whatever Coker is paying him.
As for Sobral’s next fight, maybe Coker could hit up his pals over at DREAM and “borrow” Melvin Manhoef for a 195 catchweight? Or Sokoudjou if Sobral in in a rematching mood?
Or, howzabout some good old fashioned matchmaking?
Some SF fans are calling for Mousasi to get another shot at his title.
Why not rematch him with Sobral, and let the chips fall where they may?
SF only has so many options at either 205 or 195, so they might as well go with their best chance for a great fight.
I’m thinking if Hendo returns to form, he’d kill Sobral.
If Hendo is done, then a Sobral rematch would be as hard to watch as the Shields fight was. Who wants that?
Let Hendo sort himself out, and let Sobral and Mousasi do their thing.
Unless Coker has some amazing 205 signing in his back pocket, I don’t see a lot of options for him…
Strikeforce has proved to me that after giving Brett Rogers a title shot after a loss that promotobility of contenders is either not on their agenda or beyond the realm of their expertise.
But I agree. MW is their prize division and if Hendo is going to return to form, he’s got plenty of opponents to choose from. Sobral can rematch Mousasai for a contenders match against Mo. It makes more sense.
I’m pretty sure if Shields goes to the UFC, they’ll probably let him win one before getting a shot at whoever claims the vacant belt.
Or he’ll be a heavy favorite in a middleweight tourney if that’s what they decide to do.
I’d really have to see him fight one more time to judge him because I’m still dumbfounded as to how one fight, he totally smashes Bisping, and the next he gets dominated by Shields. After that intial knockdown to Shields he just seemed to be afraid to engage….which was weird considering Shield’s stand-up is practically non-existent.
I know there was talk about back problems and a hard weight cut so who knows. I just want to see him perform again so I can make a better judgment because as a fan, I don’t want to count him out yet.
I thought babalu was moving down to 185?
He might, but he’s also said that might be too big of a drop for him so he might be stuck in the middle. A fight with Henderson could be at 185 if Babalu can make it, 195 again, or 205.