Renato 'Babalu' Sobral video: 'I am a fighter'

by MMAmania.com on Dec 4, 2008 1:47 PM EST

Ladies and gentleman ... your new Strikeforce light heavyweight champion:

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Good video, Babalu is a great guy. Hope he Sub’s Southworth in the rematch.

by medecine balls on Dec 4, 2008 1:54 PM EST reply actions

Mania – Best Video you have provided. Babalu is in my top 5 favourites .. and to be honest, i’m glad he choked heath out! Can not wait to see him fight again.

by DownUnder on Dec 4, 2008 1:57 PM EST reply actions

Heath is a douche and deserved it, but Babalu should have kept his mouth shut about it… I hope he trains harder for his next fight because I think he took Booby lightly and it showed. And Hopefully soon he will make his way back to fight with the big dogs at 205.

Maybe Strikeforce will sign Soko, that would be a solid title fight for them. Who cares about a remath with Booby, I don’t.

by BNF on Dec 4, 2008 2:05 PM EST up reply actions

Soku would lose to Babalu, no doubt.

by the_mexicutioner on Dec 4, 2008 2:11 PM EST up reply actions

I am a big Babalu fan Mexi, but Soku would have a decent chance against Babalu. Standing soko has the advantage and his takedown defense is good so I actually think it would be a really interesting match uo,

BNF: u danm right, no one wants to see the rematch with bobby!

by john on Dec 4, 2008 2:17 PM EST up reply actions

Yup, I think Babalu would handle him with realitive ease.

by BNF on Dec 4, 2008 2:18 PM EST up reply actions

John, if Soko’s ground game looks like it did agaisn’t Machida then Babalu will destroy him. Laying on your back with your legs crossed will not get the job done agaisn’t a killer like Babalu.

by BNF on Dec 4, 2008 2:22 PM EST up reply actions

Soku would gas, just like he did against Machida and Cane.

by the_mexicutioner on Dec 4, 2008 2:28 PM EST up reply actions

It wint be so easy for Babalu to get soko on the ground. fights start standing and I think Soko has a clear advantage early on in the fight. To win, soko would have to win it early.

by john on Dec 4, 2008 2:58 PM EST up reply actions

Soko reminds me a lot of Melvin Manhoef except one has dredlocks and the other doesnt. They both have incredible KO power are strong and atheletic but are horrible on the ground. Manhoef can barely survive against grapplers and Soko’s in the same boat. Sobral’s striking (mostly defense) has drastically improved since he got KO’d by Lambert. He’s no Anderson Silva on his feet but I say Babalu wins convincingly if he and Soko ever fight.

by Machine on Dec 4, 2008 4:21 PM EST up reply actions

Mex – I usually dont agree with you but you are right here. Soko would not last against Babalu … Soko is like McFederies, a lot of power but unless they can catch someone off guard early they have no chance.

by DownUnder on Dec 4, 2008 4:41 PM EST up reply actions

Soko’s light years ahead of McFedries but I understand your comparison. I think Soko has infinite potential, especially if he’s ever able to integrate his Judo into a live MMA situation. BUT, he’s got a loooong way to go.

by Machine on Dec 4, 2008 4:52 PM EST up reply actions

Personally, I am sick of seeing Soko .. bloody boring fighter and has no strategy besides brute force and power. He’s over confident shit talk and no delivery does my head in!… he has been given enough chances

by DownUnder on Dec 4, 2008 4:52 PM EST up reply actions

Soko or Tito…its been almost 2 months since Tito’s surgery so maybe a fight in 4 – 5 months??

by McArthur on Dec 4, 2008 2:12 PM EST up reply actions

Babalu couldn’t beat Tito if he fought him the day after his surgery.

by tyler on Dec 4, 2008 9:03 PM EST up reply actions

Awesome vid. He’s the 2nd best LHW not in ufc (Lil Nog #1).

by NameNotRequired on Dec 4, 2008 2:16 PM EST up reply actions

I think babalu would beat lil nog!

by mike22 on Dec 4, 2008 3:19 PM EST up reply actions

Whaaat?! come on mike, let’s be serious here!

by NameNotRequired on Dec 4, 2008 3:30 PM EST up reply actions

There very even fighters, and it would be close but i think babalu takes a Decision.

by mike22 on Dec 4, 2008 4:03 PM EST up reply actions

Mike22: I was ready to call you all sorts of crack-addicts but then I really thought about it and that would be one helluva scrap! I say it goes to Lil Nog though. The BJJ would cancel out but he’s got very crisp boxing.

by Machine on Dec 4, 2008 4:23 PM EST up reply actions

That was a good video.

by the_mexicutioner on Dec 4, 2008 2:02 PM EST reply actions

who’s next for Babalu…he’s still rumoured to fight at Affliction but has no opponent yet…I’m assuming he’ll stay at 205 now, cause he was going to drop to 185 to fight Lindland before Vitor came back

by McArthur on Dec 4, 2008 2:10 PM EST reply actions

maybe he can fight Barnett….everybody else is

by the worlds toughest nurse on Dec 4, 2008 5:18 PM EST up reply actions

Renato is the shiizznit biatch LOL!!! Seriously though the guy is cool and can fight really good sadly all the LHW talent is in the ufc except for ARona&lilNog. Gets to keep that STrikeforce belt long as he wants.

by Khaos_Warrior on Dec 4, 2008 2:10 PM EST reply actions

NOO the best part is when dana said last night to junie do you want to fight in the ufc and make boat loads of money,

Ya looks like babalu is living a really lavish lifestyle not.

happy he finally won a belt

by dia mette on Dec 4, 2008 2:24 PM EST reply actions

I like how the video glosses over what Babalu did. It just says he “choked Heath unconscious. Because of that, he was released from his contract”, as if Babalu didn’t do anything wrong. As if Heath wasn’t tapping and the bell hadn’t already rung and the ref wasn’t trying to get Babalu to let go. Everybody on this board so far seems to like Babalu, though???

by Ryan on Dec 4, 2008 2:26 PM EST reply actions

He let his emotions get the best of him.. Oh that’s right he’s human.

by Papa Lou on Dec 4, 2008 2:49 PM EST up reply actions

Hell ya, why not like him? UFC should have never let him go. Punished yes, but not discarded. It is awesome to see him hold a belt. He will be around for a while. I enjoy his fights.

by Grembone on Dec 4, 2008 2:50 PM EST up reply actions

Guess you didn’t see the BJ Penn vs Jens Pulver rematch? BJ also held the choke after the tap and even admitted to doing it. The only difference was the Pulver wasn’t a bloody mess and did not go to sleep. Babalu is awesome and his wife is hot!!!

by doubled on Dec 4, 2008 3:52 PM EST up reply actions

Who cares, my only vision for some reason is seeing renato running at chuck and getting tko’d and then going after big john LOL. Oh I also forgot the famous rear naked choke where he didn’t let the guy go, class act.

by nathan on Dec 4, 2008 2:27 PM EST reply actions

I Stoped likeing Babalu after the whole choke out thing, and I did enjoy the time he tried to sub Big John after Chuck put him on qu**r street

by jet99 on Dec 4, 2008 3:08 PM EST reply actions

that fight was just on the other night on ufc unleashed. babalu goes after big john and big john reverses the takedown attempt into a mount.lol

by megatherium on Dec 4, 2008 7:23 PM EST up reply actions

LOL, nice name!!!! Are you incredibly lazy or just a fan of extinct animals? I’m not being a jerk, just curious.

by chefdaddy on Dec 5, 2008 12:41 AM EST up reply actions

Yea he should have been punished, fined half of his purse or made an example of for sure because of what he did to Heath. Out of the UFC altogether was extremely harsh IMO. Babalu is a great fighter who has a hardcore fan base, the UFC should have kept him.

by Ballam on Dec 4, 2008 3:12 PM EST reply actions

OFF TOPIC, BUT DIEGO SANCHEZ IS DROPPING DOWN TO 155LBS. THAT’S FAIRLY BIG NEWS.

by horny for mma on Dec 4, 2008 3:48 PM EST reply actions

Yea i saw that on his myspace…. he just realizes he will never fight for a title at 170…. I dont think he will ever fight for a title at 155 either but he will probly be more of a threat at 155..

I would like to see, Diego vs frankie edgar
That would be a good test for him.

by mike22 on Dec 4, 2008 4:07 PM EST up reply actions

i bet he totally gasses his first fight from not cutting properly… diego is a very high paced aggressive fighter, and being that dehydrated is going to ruin his game… diego will not make any splashes in the 155 division, believe me!

by brendan on Dec 4, 2008 4:18 PM EST up reply actions

AAAggghhhhh kill the caps!

by Clayton on Dec 4, 2008 4:08 PM EST up reply actions

OFF TOPIC:

Any news on kendall grove?!

by ✰Pretty Boy✰ on Dec 4, 2008 3:52 PM EST reply actions

The nightmare and the carpenter would be a crazy fight.

by nathan on Dec 4, 2008 10:43 PM EST reply actions

imagine the high pace and intensity. That’d be a good 1st match up for Diego at 155. Of course Diego should win it but his performance vs Guida would be a good indicator of what to expect from him in that weight-class.

by Machine on Dec 5, 2008 8:38 AM EST up reply actions