Gegard Mousasi navigated past a potentially tricky opponent in Ovince St.Preux at Strikeforce’s event this evening and showed improvement in his wrestling abilities in the process of claiming a unanimous decision victory.
Round one was almost all Mousasi. From the opening bell he began stalking down a rather tenative looking OSP and he was able to get his strikes off, while also neatly moving away whenever his opponent attempted to land something of his own.
Half way through the round OSP threw a kick, but Mousasi caught it and promptly dumped him onto the canvas where he would spend much of the rest of the round working effectively with ground and pound, landing a variety of elbows and punches.
A kimura attempt from Mousasi resulted in both men rolling and St.Preux managed to get on top during the scramble, but just seconds later Mousasi had reversed the position and in the final few moments of the round managed to trap him in the crucifix position and rained blows down on his unprotected head.
While not quite as dominant a round, Mousasi was again in control for large portions of the second stanza after taking OSP down early and methodically working a ground and pound strategy before strangely being stood up by the referee with a couple of minutes to go.
St.Preux then managed to get Mousasi down, but didn’t make the most of the position and before long Mousasi worked his way back to his feet.
The final round didn’t start well for St.Preux as he got taken down again, but he managed to get back up and then scored with one of his own and then briefly managed to mount Mousasi.
The former champion stays active from the bottom though and is able to shrimp out and escape topside again and wastes little time in getting St.Preux back down after charging him across the cage.
Some scrambles ensue with Mousasi generally coming out on top, though in the dying seconds of the fight OSP looks for a choke, but can’t make it work before the final bell.
So, a better round for OSP, but it’s too little too late and Mousasi goes on to take a clean sweep on the judges scorecards, 29-28 x3.
Overall it’s a good performance from Mousasi which showcased some improved wrestling, though he did find himself caufgt in some troubling positions at times so there’s still room for improvement.
