Dynamite!!: Gegard Mousasi Versus Gary Goodridge, And The World Asks "Why?"

Strikeforce light heavyweight champion and Fighters.com fifth-ranked middleweight “Dreamcatcher” Gegard Mousasi (23-2-1) and “Big Daddy” Gary Goodridge (23-18-1) will fight at Fields Dynamite!! 2009 in Tokyo on New Year’s Eve, the promotion has announced.

Mousasi TKO’d “African Assassin” Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (6-5) by referee stoppage at 3:43 of round two at Strikeforce in Chicago November 7.  It was a non-title fight.

Mousasi hinted to AOL Fanhouse in December that he wouldn’t return to Strikeforce until M-1 Global stablemate Fighters.com Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (31-1) returned too.  Though, Fighters.com is not certain that’s exactly what Mousasi meant.

Regardless, the much ballyhooed “open contract” M-1 Global negotiated for Mousasi must be frustrating for Strikeforce.

Goodridge, a heavyweight, has lost four consecutive, most recently a first-round Kimura submission loss to Strikeforce heavyweight champion “Demolition Man” Alistair Overeem (29-10) at Glory 10 in November 2008.

Put bluntly, the match-up is pointless.  If Mousasi wins, he earns nothing.  If he loses, he loses everything.  Win, lose, or draw, if he gets injured, he devalues himself, Strikeforce, and the Strikeforce light heavyweight title.  It’s a high risk for a small, if any reward.

But, Mousasi has defended taking what seems to Fighters.com like pointless fights in Japan.  In August, Mousasi told Fighters.com about his participation in the DREAM Super Hulk tournament, “People have to see this differently. If this kind of tournament helps to make MMA big in Japan again, then its a good thing. They had very good TV ratings last time and, beside the tournament, they have very good, competitive fights on their cards. And, also in the tournament there are some very good fighters. Defeating Hong Man Choi is a difficult fight for anyone!”

But, it would be hard for Mousasi to defend Goodridge as “a very good fighter” this time.

The bottom line for Strikeforce is that everytime Mousasi steps into an MMA fight anywhere in the world he puts the Strikeforce 205-pound title on the line, whether technically up for grabs or not.

Strikeforce faces a similar dilemma with Overeem, who hasn’t defended his Strikeforce title for two years, though he finds time to fight everywhere else in the world.

Overeem has accused American fans of Amerocentrism, not understanding that there is a combat sport fan base outside of North America.  That’s not what Fighters.com is arguing.  Let Mousasi fight “Brazilian Tiger” Ricardo Arona (14-5), “Ely” Paulo Filho (17-1), or “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal (4-0) in Japan, but at least someone in the same MMA league.

UFC President Dana White has long stayed clear of open contracts.  One wonders if Strikeforce is reconsidering its policy as it attempts to go head-to-head versus the UFC.