From high to low: Sokoudjou vows to revive career starting at Bellator 121

It has been a long time since Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou fought in a high-level MMA organization. But with his Bellator MMA debut just around the corner, the 30-year-old finally may be ready to live up to his potential.

When the name Sokoudjou is brought up to MMA fans, many will remember his shocking knockouts of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona, both of whom were top-10 light heavyweights at the time, under the PRIDE banner in 2007.

With just three professional fights to his name at the time, the unheralded Sokoudjou was thought to be nothing more than a stepping-stone for his elite opposition. He changed that perception with back-to-back first-round knockout wins in just a little more than two minutes of total fight time.

“I had been training in MMA for about a year before I first fought in PRIDE,” Sokoudjou told MMAjunkie. “When I fought Nogueira and Arona, I had no idea who they were. They were just two opponents standing in front of me. I didn’t have any idea what they had accomplished before I stepped in the ring with them. Everything was new to me at that point so I just went in there and did what I had to do.”

Since that pair of career-defining victories, though, the Cameroon-born fighter has failed to meet expectations on multiple levels.

Upon making his exit from PRIDE due to the dissolution of the organization, Sokoudjou has put together a rough record of 10-11, with nine of those losses by knockout or submission.

“My training was going really good back then, but at some point all of my training just fell apart and it really became a nightmare,” Sokoudjou said. “I don’t think it was a situation where I became less aggressive or less vicious when I’m competing. I just think that I was training all over the place with a lot if different people earlier in my career and I became a bit complacent later on.”

With two and three-fight winning streaks sprinkled between his losses, Sokoudjou has shown glimpses of a reemergence in recent years. Unfortunately, every time he puts together some momentum, he turns around and suffers two or three defeats in a row.

Sokoudjou’s (14-12 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) most recent skid has seen him lose his past two fights by knockout. Luckily for him, those decisive defeats didn’t prevent Bellator from signing him to debut Friday at Bellator 121 at the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla. He’ll meet Terry Davinney (10-7 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) in a main-card bout on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

After spending the past several years fighting on smaller shows, Sokoudjou will finally be back in the spotlight with a major promotion. Because of that, he’s expected to be at his best when fight night arrives.

Sokoudjou admits his motivation and training were significantly crippled during his up and down run. Now that he’s found a new home with Bellator, he’s ready to prove why he was once thought of as one of the world’s most dangerous 205-pound fighters.

“I know what I have to do to get back to that point in my career,” Sokoudjou said. “I have to do a lot more cross training and that’s what I’ve been doing. I’m training at a lot of different gyms now. Gyms where I’m not comfortable. Gyms where my sparring partners don’t care as much about me and are really trying to poke a hole in my head. I needed to take a step back and take myself out of my comfort zone and that’s what I’ve done.

“I’m back and I’m ready to show the world what I’m capable of. I just want to put on some exciting fights for all the fans. I’ve trained really hard for this so I know it’s going to be very exciting.”

Davinney isn’t the type of opponent that will help push Sokoudjou back into the rankings, but a win would open the door for grander opportunities down the line.

Bellator’s tournament-based model allows fighters to soar into relevance much faster than they would otherwise. Because of that, Sokoudjou is eager to earn a spot in the next light heavyweight bracket, where he can truly show that his best is yet to come.

“I want to win this fight to get into a tournament where I can earn my chance to become a world champion,” Sokoudjou said. “I know I have the skills to become a world champion in the sport and now it’s time to go out there and make it happen.”

“I know in my heart that I have the skills to become a world champion and I’m not going to stop until I reach that goal. Every time I fight I always feel like I could have done better. I have to make sure I am better than I’ve ever been when I step inside that cage. I didn’t come here to be a victim, so I have to be ready.”

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