The Most Important Fight Of Early 2010

The next two months are stacked from top to bottom with intriguing relevant fights. From WEC 47, Dream 13, and more offerings from the UFC than I care to type it's enough to make even the most causal of MMA fan excited. However a strong argument can be made that the crem de la crem of of the upcoming events is Strikeforce on CBS. Dan Henderson coming off of a victory on the most watched MMA card in pay per view history and a highly publicized split from the UFC will bring some needed star power to the card, and Melendez vs Aoki is a must see for any respectable fan of the sport. However it's the Light Heavyweight title fight between Gegard Mousasi and Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal that is one of the most intriguing and in my opinion important fights we'll see all year.

Mousasi has won 15 fights in a row and is without question one of the best fighters not under Zuffa contract. His skills since losing to Akihiro Gono have grown immensely and at only 24 years old he has plenty of time to improve even further. His skill level and youth make him one of the most valuable fighters Strikeforce has under contract considering the lack of depth at 205 outside the UFC. In his Strikeforce debut Mousasi opened a lot of eyes by knocking Babalu's consciousness into another dimension with a brutal display of ground and pound. Following that against Sokoudjou he showed a nice ability to escape from the bottom, dangerous stand up, and once again deadly ground and pound.

King Mo is one of the more interesting prospects in the entire sport. His charisma, outspoken nature, and abiltiy to get a strong reaction out of the fanbase good or bad has already made him a big name among the hardcore MMA community. His willingness to fight at 205, heavyweight, and probably 185 make him very useful for Strikeforce. As overused as the term "world class wrestling" is in MMA ( looking at you Mike Goldberg) Lawal's is truly deserving to be called world class. For three years he was considered the no. 1 wrestler in the world at 84kg and he became one of the most decorated international level wrestlers to ever transition to MMA. In his Strikeforce debut against Mike Whitehead he melted Whitehead with a right counter followed by some sick ground and pound.  

These two are in my opinion are without question the two best light heavyweights outside the UFC and both men have the potential to be the best fighter at 205 for years to come. Mousasi is the better all around fighter at this point, His stand up skills are some of the best at 205 and he's more than capable on the ground. Couple that with the fact that he's had 31 fights (compared to Lawal's 6) and he deserves to be a solid favorite. However King Mo is definitley worth betting on if you want to go with a underdog. Lawal is only getting better with each fight and while his stand up isnt quite there yet he definitley has the power to put Mousasi out. Lawal will probably be able to take Mousasi down whenever he wants and he's shown some fantastic striking abiltity from top position. Right now im leaning toward King Mo maybe im giving him to much credit to quickly but I think his wrestling is enough to get by Mousasi. 

Either way the winner of this fight is going to be paid richly for a long time to come. The UFC will certainly offer big money to steal them away down the line and Strikeforce will have to make a huge offer to keep the champion of a division they lack depth in. Seeing two young fighters of this caliber fighting on network television is an awesome thing for MMA. Who knows maybe a few years down the line both of these guys will be fighting each other again for the UFC title on pay per view in a massively hyped rematch.