Gegard Mousasi Signs New 2-Year Deal With Strikeforce

Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi has signed a four-fight minimum, two-year contract renewal, the promotion’s CEO Scott Coker confirmed on Friday.

The 24-year-old Armenian-Dutch fighter expressed his intention to re-sign with Strikeforce on Sirius satellite radio’s "The Fight Show" on Thursday. Mousasi, who left M-1 Global’s management last February, has declined to identify his new representation at this time.

- Sherdog reports that Gegard Mousasi will remain with Strikeforce for at least two more years.

There seem to be two reactions to this currently.  One side that says "good for him, he's making money and has the open contract he wants" and the other that says "this proves he is looking to duck elite competition."  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

I have no doubts that the open contract to fight in Japan and pursue other interests outside of Strikeforce is important to Mousasi, and I also think that he wants to make as much money as possible in as safe a way as possible.  Is it wrong for a guy to want to make more money taking easy fights outside the UFC than he would fighting against the world's best?  Maybe from a "proving your the best" standpoint, but the truth is that legacy doesn't put food in your family's mouth.  Gegard has every right to handle his career as he sees fit.

This being said, I do wish we would see Mousasi mixing it up with the deep 205 pound division in the UFC so that we could get a better idea of where he sits in the division.