UFC events

Gegard Mousasi (born August 1, 1985) is a professional Dutch-Armenian mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He is fighting out of Team Jurojin in Leiden, Netherlands and is a member of Red Devil Sport Club. He is the former Dream Middleweight Champion, Cage Warriors Middleweight Champion and the current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion. According to MMAWeekly.com, Mousasi is the 6th ranked light-heavyweight fighter in the world.



Biography / Early career

Gegard Mousasi was born to Armenian parents in Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. At the age of 4, Mousasi and his family relocated to Leiden, Netherlands, where he finished grade school before developing an interest in martial arts. He started practicing Judo[3] and later boxing at age 15; twelve months later he became the amateur boxing champion of the Netherlands. He then switched to kickboxing and then eventually to mixed martial arts.



Dream

In the first round of the Dream's 2008 Middleweight Grand Prix at Dream 2 he defeated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Denis Kang by triangle choke. In the second round of the tournament, at Dream 4, he won a decision victory over Dong Sik Yoon and advanced to the final round which took place at Dream 6. There he fought and submitted K-1 veteran Melvin Manhoef in the semi-finals before meeting up with submission specialist Ronaldo Souza in the final. Mousasi defeated Souza by an upkick after being taken down by the Brazilian, thus becoming the first Dream Middleweight Champion and 2008 Middleweight Grand Prix tournament winner.



K-1 Dynamite!! 2008

In somewhat of a surprise to the MMA world, Gegard agreed to take on Japanese K-1 fighter Musashi in a K-1 rules fight at Dynamite!! 2008. Being an open weight fight Gegard weighed in at 97.8 kg/216 lbs, all but confirming his desire to move up in weight classes. Gegard stated after winning the Dream Middleweight Grand Prix he would no longer fight at middleweight due to the large weight cut. Gegard was not favored to win the match against the more experienced Musashi, but came out fast and scored a first round KO. Gegard went undefeated in 2008 going 6-0 in MMA, and 1-0 in K-1.



Move to light-heavyweight and heavyweight

In interviews from early 2009, Mousasi stated the weight he put on after winning Dream's middleweight tournament was too much for him to cut back down to middleweight and that his next fights would be at light-heavyweight and eventually heavyweight instead.[5][6]

Mousasi submitted Mark Hunt in the first round of the Super Hulk Grand Prix at Dream 9.

Mousasi was set to fight Renato "Babalu" Sobral at Affliction: Trilogy on August 1, 2009, but the event was canceled after losing its main event 10 days prior to the event. It was originally planned for him to face Vitor Belfort at that event, but there was a disagreement between both fighters over which weight class the fight would be fought at. On Monday July 27, 2009 it was announced that the cancelled bout between Sobral and Mousasi would take place on the August 15 Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg card and the fight became a contest for the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight championship belt. Mousasi defeated Sobral via KO in the first round to become the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion. At M-1 Breakthrough a exhibition grappling match between new Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi and Fedor Emelianenko took place in which both showed great grappling throws and sweeps but ended by Fedor submitting Mousasi by arm bar with one and a half minutes left in the first round.

Mousasi won by TKO 3 minutes and 43 seconds into the 2nd round against Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou on November 7, 2009 at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers.



Titles

* 2009 Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion
* 2008 Dream Middleweight Champion
* 2008 Dream Middleweight GP Champion
* 2006 Cage Warriors Middleweight Champion