What’s Next For Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou?

February 4, 2008

A year ago, most of us had heard very little (if not nothing) of Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. Obviously, all that quickly changed once he knocked out Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona in a span of two months.

Then, everything really changed for The African Assassin. Pride FC was purchased by Zuffa and all of sudden Sokoudjou became one of the hottest free agents in mixed martial arts. First, he was rumored to sign with Elite XC and then K-1 Hero’s. Both those deals fell through and, voila, he became the latest in a long line of former Pride stars to sign with the UFC. And, much like many of those former Pride stars, he faltered in his Octagon debut.

I hadn’t heard much from the 23-year-old since his UFC 79 loss to Lyoto Machida so I called him up and basically asked: “what happened against Machida and when are you fighting next?”(By the looks of that photo he appears to be in deep contemplation mode, eh?) I also asked a couple of other things, such as:

* The difference between fighting in the UFC as opposed to competing in Pride

* His thoughts on Machida’s post-fight comments

* Why he didn’t sign with Elite XC or K-1

* What’s up with his parents not knowing that he is a mixed martial artist

* Whether he plans on ever letting the cat out of the bag

* How his life has changed in the last year

* His budding movie career

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou – 02/04/08