Sokoudjou and EliteXC Close to Signing

Sherdog.com is reporting that light-heavyweight phenom Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou has agreed to terms on a four-fight contract with Showtime’s EliteXC.

Sokoudjou's managers, Dan Henderson and Ryan Parsons, handled the negotiating (by request of Sokoudjou himself, whose English is not too strong) for the 23-year-old Cameroon native and seemed to have gone where the money was best. Apparently, the management team was underwhelmed with offers from Dana White.

Now, before we all start shooting off about how the UFC should have given Sokoudjou this much or that much, let's consider a few things:

1) The UFC light-heavyweight division currently features Rampage Jackson, Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson, Tito Ortiz, and Shogun Rua - just to name some of the biggies. And that's not to mention that Wanderlei guy who's waiting in the wings, or the hugely-popular Michael Bisping and Forrest Griffin. So why break the bank for Sokoudjou, who, although very impressive looking in his two Pride fights, is still a relative newcomer to the sport?

2) In recent months, Dana White and the brothers Fertitas have brought Rua, Henderson, Rampage, Big Nogueira, Lyoto Machida, and Heath Herring to the UFC, and they seem to be working on Fedor. That's not good enough?!?!

Would I happily pay money to watch Sokoudjou face any of the aforementioned light-heavies? Absolutely. Until that's a possibility, I wish him the best of luck, and I look forward to more from him.