UFC 89 Breakdown: The Main Card

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Luis Arthur Cane
Sokoudjou Scouting Report
Height/Weight: 6’0/205 lbs.
Age: 24
Hometown: Hom’la, Cameroon
Fighting out of: Temecula, Calif.
Record: 5-2

The stakes: An absolute phenom during his run in Pride, Sokoudjou stunned the world by scoring knockouts over the likes of Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. That phenom status took a major hit with his loss to Lyoto Machida, but Sokoudjou showed poise in a rebound win over Kazuhiro Nakamura. After showing the world he can stumble, Sokoudjou now needs to show the world he can regain his footing and live up to his “Predator” moniker.

The breakdown: Blessed with freakish athleticism, Sokoudjou’s combination of power, balance and agility make him a handful inside the cage. Against Cane, Sokoudjou must stick to his guns and stay upright while keeping Cane mindful of the precision strikes that have leveled many a past opponent. As with many young fighters, Sokoudjou is at his best when he is completely in control. That will mean taking the fight to Cane early and often.

Cane Scouting Report
Height/Weight: 6’2/205 lbs.
Age: 27
Hometown: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Fighting out of: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Record: 8-1

The stakes: Cane, much like Sokoudjou, carries the burden of a failed UFC debut on his shoulders; his came against James Irvin in a UFC 79 bout that ended with a disqualification loss. Luckily for Cane, his return to the UFC turned into his coming out party, as he scored a dominant technical knockout win over grizzled veteran Jason Lambert. Now matched against one of the UFC’s premier prospects, Cane has a chance to show the world that Brazil can still crank out elite fighters.

The breakdown: Hardly your classic Brazilian mixed martial artist, Cane is not your standard issue jiu-jitsu practitioner, as he would much rather use his strikes to get the job done. That’s a good thing, too, since Sokoudjou’s takedown defense, much like his striking, is stellar. Therein rests the rub for Cane, as his style plays into Sokoudjou’s desire to trade bombs on the feet. The solution for Cane would be to turn this into a trench war and batter Sokoudjou from close quarters instead of getting into risky exchanges.


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The bottom line: The formula for beating Sokoudjou -- a patient, multi-faceted approach -- simply does not play to Cane’s strengths. He tries to maul opponents with strikes from the opening bell. Matching aggression with aggression leads to fireworks, and it will lead to a loss for Cane, as he gets the short end of the exchanges with Sokoudjou.