Renato 'Babalu' Sobral sighting

After losing to Chuck Liddell for the second time at UFC 62 back in
August, we haven't heard much from UFC Light Heavyweight Renato
"Babalu" Sobral (27-6).

Until recently.

The Brazilian will compete against Misha Cirkunov in a special
TUFF-N-UFF submission wrestling match tomorrow night at the Southpoint
Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It does not mean that he is no longer with the UFC or anything like
that. I just came across a flyer a few weeks ago, but never got around
to sharing it here.

The reason I bring it up now is because it's timely, and it reminds me
of a verbal exchange between Babalu and Tito Ortiz back in September.

In the wake of UFC 62, Ortiz had this to say about Sobral:

"Babalu is not really as good as they try to make him to be. They
kind of painted the picture more of what they think. I think that
was a typical fight for Liddell. That fight will go the same way
each and every time. The first time went two minutes and 30 seconds
and this one went one minute. Babalu is not really that great a
fighter. He's a great "B" fighter and an average "A"
fighter. He's not at the level of Couture or Liddell or myself."

And here's Babalu's response:

"I earned my title shot after my results in the Octagon. I won my
way up to the title shot against Liddell and Tito has his fight
guaranteed on a contract. I won my way up with 10 wins in a row with
the last three being at the UFC by submission. Tito had two
victories at his two recent UFC fights with the judges helping him
– very controversial results, not convincing! Even though I
believe it's impossible, I really hope Tito beats Liddell because
it will be easier to smash his face and get the title from him
instead of Liddell."

Babalu, in my opinion, proved he was an "A" fighter when he beat
Trevor Prangley, Mauricio "Sho Gun" Rua and Jeremy Horn — in the
same night! He's exciting to watch and one of the best fighters in the
UFC stable.

Either way, this war-of-words is some good stuff. And, just one more
subplot to keep in mind as UFC 66 unfolds and we head into 2007.