From competing in the early vale-tudo days to being a UFC title challenger, Renato Sobral has done it all. He has fought all over the world, from Europe to Asia, and after 16 years and 49 fights in every large organization, the Brazilian called it a career in 2013.
He has won only two out of his last five bouts and has been stopped with hard-to-watch TKOs twice in a row, but Babalu wants to give it another shot.
On April 11 he will return to the ring at Strength & Honor Championship 11 in Geneva, Switzerland. At 39 years of age, he will return to face Volkan Oezdemir. Groundandpound.de reported the news yesterday.
Oezdemir is a Swiss native who gained international reputation by winning a three-fight, one-night tournament in Denmark in 2013 and subsequently getting signed by Bellator MMA. He went 1-1 with the promotion and suffered the only loss of his 12-fight career.
The 25-year-old Oezdemir is likely going to be a tough opponent for Sobral, who looked faded in all of his last outings. One has to wonder if it is a good a idea to come out of retirement at age 39 and after almost 50 fights.
The SHC 11 co-main event will feature French former Bellator welterweight title challenger Karl Amoussou. An opponent for him hasn’t been named, yet.
SHC is Switzerland’s biggest MMA event series and regularly features UFC and Bellator veterans in their main fights.
Here’s the full card:
Strength and Honor Championship 11
11. April 2015
Theatre Du Leman in Genf, SchweizVolkan Oezdemir vs. Renato Sobral
Karl Amoussou vs. TBA
Mohamed Sayah vs. Gregor Weibel
Kriss Larcin vs. Benjamin Brander
Karim Khalifa vs. Boubacar Niakaté
David Roethlisberger vs. Usman Bestulagov
Ludo Boulvin vs. Gilles Saraf
Zarah Fairn vs. Debbie Studer
Ange Loosa vs. Lars Mazenauer
Alex Rodrigues vs. Konmon Deh
Peter Ligier vs. Martin Akhtar
Faissal Harrar vs. Andre Sparaccia
Suleiman Bouhata vs. Saief Toumy
Chabane Chaibbedra vs Michel Ersoy
Francis Ngannou vs. TBA