Strikeforce L.A: Sobral Fighting For Today, Not What’s Next

Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – What’s next? For a fighter, the question is what keeps them going.

Long hours at the gym, nagging injuries, and cutting weight are all worth it because of what the future holds. Because of what’s next.

Renato “Babalu” Sobral may be the exception. Instead of striving for the same carrots as everyone else, he’s fighting for today.

Sobral will be fighting Robbie Lawler in the main event of Wednesday’s Strikeforce: Los Angeles card. The bout will be at a catchweight of 195 pounds.

The compromise weight, halfway between light heavyweight, Sobral’s usual weight class, and Lawler’s home of middleweight, is fitting.

Sobral seems to be adrift, a lone wolf taking the best fight for today, but not building towards the same goals as everyone else.

He has a foot in several different promotions. Sobral’s fight on Wednesday will be the first time he’s had back-to-back bouts with the same promotion since leaving the UFC in mid-2007.

At one point, it was rumored that he had non-exclusive contracts with three different affiliations.

The streak won’t continue, as Sobral is expected to fight on the next DREAM card, tentatively scheduled for July.

“I was supposed to fight in DREAM (earlier this year), but that got cancelled, and Strikeforce offered me this opportunity,” said Sobral of how the Lawler bout came to fruition.

The prize up for grabs in the catchweight bout is a title shot in one of the two bordering weight classes.

“If Babalu wins and looks good, he will be in line for a matchup against King Mo (Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion Mohammaed Lawal,” said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker.

The bout would give Sobral the chance to regain the title he lost to Gegard Mousasi in his last bout. The good news, however, was met with a shrug by Sobral.

“He’s a training partner,” Sobral said of King Mo in an interview on Strikeforce’s web site. “He’s a friend of mine. I don’t feel that I need to fight Mo. I feel that the (title) belt is with our team, so I don’t feel any desire to fight him.”

“I’m not a big fan of people who train together fighting each other,” Sobral continued. “I’m from the old days.”

Earning his money, Sobral’s manager Richard Wilner immediately went to work smoothing things over. “For what it’s worth, if the question is, ‘Are we looking for a fight with Mo?’ with all due respect, the answer is no, because of our relationship with Mo,” Wilner said.

“If that’s the fight on the table, because the fans are clamoring for it, then we’ll do what we have to do,” Wilner continued. “If the question is ‘Who do we want to fight?’ I could easily answer that question, and the answer is Dan Henderson and Gegard Mousasi.”

Both of the opponents Sobral is targeting are coming off losses in title fights. They’re the type of bouts a fighter would take after losing a showdown with Lawler, not after a win. At least that’s true for a fighter on the traditional path.

What path is Sobral on? “I’m just trying to get as mentally and physically prepared as I can to get the job done, so I can come back to my house and kiss my family,” he said.

“There’s always added pressure,” Sobral continued. “The pressure is always on. The next fight is always the most important fight in your life.”

Sobral will concentrate on the next fight, and let “what’s next” take care of itself.

“I do what feels right to me,” he said, in what might be the motto for his career.

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