Name Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
Nickname The African Assassin
Association Team Quest
Weight Class Light Heavyweight (205 lbs.)
Height 6’0″ (182 cm)
Style Judo
Birth Date April 18, 1984
Fighting Out Of Temecula, California, USA
Country Cameroon
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou Pictures Official Website

”’Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou Nkamhoua”’ sometimes billed simply as ”’Sokoudjou”’, is a Cameroonian mixed martial artist and Judo practitioner, who came to prominence in Japan’s PRIDE Fighting Championships, before signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He was released by the UFC after going 1-2 in his 3 fight stint.

He has since struggled with stints in Affliction, Strikeforce, and DREAM.

== Professional Record ==

Record 12 – 10 – 0 (Win â€Â“ Loss â€Â“ Draw)
Wins 8 (T)KOs
0 Submissions
3 Decisions
1 Other
Losses 6 (T)KOs
2 Submissions
2 Decisions
Result Opponent Method Event Title Date Round Time Notes
Loss Jan Blachowicz Decision (Unanimous) KSW 17 Revenge 11/26/2011 3 5:00 Lost KSW Light Heavyweight Championship
Loss Ryan Jimmo Decision (Unanimous) MFC 31 The Rundown 10/07/2011 5 5:00 For [[MFC Light Heavyweight Champion | MFC Light Heavyweight Championship]]
Win Roy Boughton Decision (Unanimous) SFS 1 Mein vs Zaromskis 6/10/2011 3 5:00
Win Jan Blachowicz TKO (Retirement) KSW 15: Konfrontacja 3/19/2011 2 5:00 Won KSW Light Heavyweight Championship
Win Valdas Pocevicius Decision (Unanimous) Israeli Fighting Championship: Genesis 11/09/2010 3 5:00
Loss Shamil Abdurahimov TKO (Punches) ADFC: The Battle of Champions 2 10/22/2010 3 2:17 Abu Dhabi FC Openweight Tournament Second Round
Loss Houston Alexander TKO (Punches) SF 13 Jardine vs Prangley 9/11/2010 2 1:31 Won Fight of the Night Honors
Win Joaquim Ferreira TKO (Punches) [[Impact FC 1 – The Uprising: Brisbane]] 7/10/2010 1 1:20
Win Dave Herman DQ (Illegal Knees) ADFC: Battle of the Champions 5/14/2010 2 N/A Abu Dhabi FC Open-weight Tournament Opening Round
Loss Ikuhisa Minowa TKO (Punches) [[FieLDS Dynamite!! 2009]] 12/31/2009 3 3:29 DREAM 2009 Super Hulk Grand Prix Finals
Loss Gegard Mousasi TKO (Punches) Strikeforce Fedor vs Rogers 11/07/2009 2 3:43 Non-title bout
Win Bob Sapp TKO (Punches) DREAM 11 Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Final Round 10/06/2009 1 1:31 DREAM 2009 Super Hulk Grand Prix Semi-finals
Win Jan Nortje TKO (Punches) DREAM 9 Feather Weight Grand Prix 2009 Second Round 5/26/2009 1 1:17 DREAM 2009 Super Hulk Grand Prix Opening Round
Loss Renato Sobral Submission (Brabo Choke) Affliction Day of Reckoning 1/24/2009 2 2:36
Loss Luis Arthur Cane TKO (Punches) UFC 89 Bisping vs Leben 10/18/2008 2 4:15 After the loss, Sokoudjou was released from his UFC contract
Win Kazuhiro Nakamura TKO (Leg Injury) UFC 84 Ill Will 5/24/2008 1 5:00
Loss Lyoto Machida Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) UFC 79 Nemesis 12/29/2007 2 4:20 UFC debut
Win Ricardo Arona KO (Punch) PRIDE 34 Kamikaze 4/08/2007 1 1:59
Win Antonio Rogerio Nogueira KO (Punch) PRIDE 33 Second Coming 2/24/2007 1 0:23
Loss Glover Teixeira KO (Punches) WEC 24 Full Force 10/12/2006 1 1:41
Win Paul Weremecki TKO (Head Kick and Punches) SF 17: Hot Zone 8/05/2006 1 2:11
Win Gary Padilla Decision (Split) TC 15: Total Combat 15 7/15/2006 3 5:00

== Early Life ==
Born in Cameroon, Sokoudjou began to practice Judo at the age of around 5. He moved to the USA in 2001 to pursue his career in Judo.

== Mixed Martial Arts Career ==
Sokoudjou was the 2001 US Open Judo champion as a member of Judo America San Diego, and trains with Team Quest where he is acting as a Kickboxing and MMA instructor.

His first professional mixed martial arts bout took place in 2006, where he faced Gary Padilla, winning a Decision (Split). He then returned to action a month later, defeating Paul Weremecki by TKO (Head Kick and Punches). Once again returning quickly, two months after the win, Sokoudjou faced former SportFight Light Heavyweight Champion Glover Teixeira at WEC 24 Full Force. Sokoudjou was handed his first career loss at 1:41 of the first round by way of KO (Punches).

=== PRIDE Career ===
In his PRIDE debut at PRIDE 33 Second Coming, Sokoudjou defeated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira via KO in 23 seconds. This fight stands out amongst fans because Sokoudjou was a 16 to 1 underdog. In another unbelievable upset, Sokoudjou, in his second outing in PRIDE at PRIDE 34 Kamikaze, defeated Ricardo Arona, by way of KO (Punch) early in the first round.

With two impressive upset victories in PRIDE, Sokoudjou had earned quite a bit of stigma about him, and many were saying he was one of the next big things in the Light Heavyweight division.

=== UFC Career ===
After a brief but successful stint in PRIDE, Sokoudjou signed with the UFC. He lost in his UFC debut to future UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida at on December 29, 2007 at UFC 79 Nemesis by way of Arm Triangle Choke. As an homage to the many photoshops of him on the internet, he entered the ring wearing a predator mask.

On May 24, 2008 Sokoudjou rebounded from his UFC loss by defeating Kazuhiro Nakamura via TKO (Leg Injury) at UFC 84 Ill Will in the first round. During his post-fight interview Sokoudjou challenged Mauricio Rua, who had just signed with the promotion.

Sokoudjou’s next fight was at UFC 89 Bisping vs Leben against 8-1 Luiz Cane. He lost by strikes with 45 seconds remaining in the second round.

Going 2-1 with the promotion, and proving to not be what many expected him to be, Sokoudjou was released from the UFC on November 28, 2008.

=== Post-UFC ===
His first fight after being released by the UFC was at Affliction Day of Reckoning, where he was defeated by Renato Sobral with an Anaconda Choke at 2:38 of the second round.

Sokoudjou then was scheduled to fight [[K-1]] Kickboxer Jan Nortje at DREAM‘s Open Weight tournament that took place at DREAM 9. Rameau defeated Nortje in the first round with strikes after using a Judo throw to get on top of his opponent. There was some controversy with the end of the fight, as Sokoudjou continued to hit Nortje, even after the referee tried to stop the fight.

It was next confirmed that Sokoudjou would face DREAM‘s former Middleweight Champion Gegard Mousasi in the secound round of the Super Hulk Tournament. Unfortunately, Mousasi was forced to withdraw from the bout as he injured his shoulder in an exhibition grappling match with Fedor Emelianenko. Mousasi would be replaced by Bob Sapp, who had lost in the first round of the tournament to Ikuhisa Minowa. Sokoudjou made short work of Sapp at DREAM 11 Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Final Round on October 6, 2009, defeating the behemoth via TKO (Punches) in the first round. He will face Ikuhisa Minowa in the tournament finals. Minowa earned the spot in the finals by defeating Bob Sapp and Hong Man Choi.

Before facing off against Ikuhisa Minowa for the Super Hulk Tournament Finals, Sokoudjou was scheduled to fight Gegard Mousasi, whom he was expected to face in the tournament before he pulled out, at the Strikeforce Fedor vs Rogers card on November 7, 2009. Mousasi was the current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship, yet his title was not on the line. Sokoudjou and his opponent went through an in depth feeling out process for the first three minutes of the opening round, but then lit up the closing 120 seconds with a flurry. They closed the round with several reverses and numerous submission attempts by each, but neither could find the finish. Round two was a completely different story. Mousasi clinched and then proceeded to take apart Sokoudjou’s legs with a barrage of knees to the thighs. Sokoudjou managed to wrest Mousasi to the ground, but that would just be the beginning of the end. Mousasi quickly reversed position and mounted a ground and pound assault from Sokoudjou’s guard. The Armenian never relented, pouring on the punches until the referee stepped in to stop the fight at 3:43 of the round.

Sokoudjou returned to Japan to face off against Ikuhisa Minowa on December 31, 2009 at [[FieLDS Dynamite!! 2009]] for the DREAM 2009 Super Hulk Grand Prix finals. Minowa did as expected, searching for submissions against his bigger opponent. By the third round the action had stalled, and both fighters received a yellow card due to inactivity. Then out of nowhere, Minowa unleashed a left hand that buckled Sokoudjou. The TKO (Punches) victory won Minowa the DREAM 2009 Super Hulk Grand Prix, and handed Thierry another loss.

He was then scheduled to return to action on May 14, 2010 at an Abu Dhabi FC event, where he participated in another eight-man Open-weight Tournament. In the opening round he faced off against Dave Herman, who was coming off two impressive wins over Don Frye and Jim York. The Sokoudjou-Herman fight actually replaced a Sergei Kharitonov vs Marcio Cruz fight that was originally scheduled for the tournament. The winner of the tournament, spanning three events, will earn a prize of 1,000,000 AED, which is roughly $272,242.18. Sokoudjou ended up wining the fight by way of disqualification, due to illegal knees in the second round.

Sokoudjou returned to action at [[Impact FC 1 – The Uprising: Brisbane]] on July 10, 2010 against Joaquim Ferreira. After desperately pulling a deep half guard to escape Sokoudjou’s stand-up, Ferreira’s exposed head proved an easy target for Sokoudjou, who exploded with a torrent of rights and lefts on his helpless opponent. “Big” John McCarthy stepped in just 80 seconds into the bout, giving Sokoudjou the win by TKO (Punches).

Sokoudjou returned to a bigger stage at Shark Fights 13 Jardine vs Prangley, where he faced another UFC veteran whose hype train had derailed, Houston Alexander. Alexander was sent to the canvas by Sokoudjou and the end seemed near, but Alexander was able to latch on to a single-leg takedown while trying to recover. After separating, Sokoudjou wobbled Alexander again, but Alexander ended up on top after a scramble where he reigned down a few punches until the round ended. As the second round opened, and has been so often the case, Sokoudjou’s gas tank was empty. He stood stationary as Alexander moved in, but three punches and a knee found their mark. Sokoudjou hit the deck, and Alexander swarmed with a barrage of blows that seemed unending in nature. Sokoudjou did his best to survive, but it was a hopeless task. The fight was given the Fight of the Night Honors by Shark Fights.