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Gegard Mousasi has had an exemplary career in combat sports, but we may have seen the last of him in live competition, according to one of his training partners. Appearing on a recent episode of Bowks Talking Bouts, Costello Van Steenis touched on multiple topics ahead of his bid for Johnny Eblen’s middleweight crown at PFL Africa 1 on July 19th. Addressing the current situation of the former Strikeforce and Bellator MMA titleholder, who we have not seen fight in over two years now, Van Steenis said,
“Well to be honest, he’s not in town right now. I was with him last week. He’s still training a lot though. Well not a lot, he’s like enjoying life and training at the same time. So I don’t know what the deal is with Mousasi at the moment but I think he’s just taking it easy and just going with the flow. But if the flow stops, I think he’s good with that as well. So he’s just; like I said he’s going with the flow. If the flow stops, like his fighting career, he just goes on with a smile on his face. He’s really down to earth and all chill about it.”
Gegard Mousasi’s experience fighting Johnny Eblen and what he has imparted to van Steenis
Gegard Mousasi has a direct history with Johnny Eblen, with the latter defeating the former to capture the Bellator strap that he has gone on to hold for over three years and that he carries into this Van Steenis contest. When discussing what anecdotal Eblen insights that Gegard Mousasi has imparted before this title fight during PFL’s inaugural foray into Africa, Van Steenis stated,
“Training-wise, he’s still training but I’m actually getting more help with him now. Because he’s not helping me as a fighter, he’s helping me as a coach. So this is a big plus for me. He’s telling me ok, now you have to do this. Now you have to do a minute of this, now you have to do that. Like wow, dude, you’ve never done this and now you’re making me do the hard work. Like the work that you’ve never done [laughs], you’re making me do double [laughs]. No, no, it’s a big help training-wise and also coaching-wise… The guy’s always been smart fighting.”
“He’s even smarter being a coach, to be honest. Because he knows exactly the weak spots. He knows how strong; especially against Eblen. He knows how strong Eblen is, he knows his weak spots. He felt it, he’s like telling me ok, don’t do that because that didn’t help when I did it. So this is really helpful information for me.”
