Peruse any of the media surrounding Gegard Mousasi’s recent dismantlement of Renato Sobral inside of one round at Strikeforce and you’d think Mousasi had come out of nowhere to defeat the Strikeforce LHW Champion. But for those whose MMA radar is not solely set to shows on US soil, it’s been a long-known fact that the Armenian is pound-for-pound among the world’s best MMA fighters and boasts one of the sport’s most complete games.

Anyone who watched Mousasi coast his way to the 2008 DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix title knew they were watching a very special kind of athlete. Without expression or fanfare, the former amateur boxing champion, kickboxer and Judoka powered through the formidable DREAM MWGP line-up with seeming ease, defeating Denis Kang by triangle choke; Dong Sik Yoon by decision; Melvin Manhoef by triangle choke and Ronaldo Jacare in the final with devastating upkick knockout.

After winning the DREAM MWGP Mousasi did something that no fighter has done before – he beat name opponents in two higher weight divisions and a name striker under K-1 rules.

First he took on former two-time K-1 WGP runner up Musashi (2003 /2004 K-1 WGP runner up) under K-1 rules and blew him out in little more than two-and-a-half minutes. Sure Musashi isn’t considered a top flight K-1 fighter these days, but he is considered a journeyman and had not been knocked out since 2007 – and even then it took four rounds for Yusuke Fujimoto to achieve.

Next Mousasi vacated his DREAM MWGP belt and stepped up to heavyweight to participate in the DREAM Super Hulk Open Weight tournament. He took on a pre-tournament favorite in former PRIDE star and former K-1 WGP Champion Mark Hunt. This time it took Mousasi only 1:20 to take Hunt down and tap out the Samoan via straight armbar. Only Alistair Overeem had ever submitted Hunt quicker.

Not content to sit at heavyweight and looking to keep busy and show dominance in three weight divisions, Mousasi dropped to Light Heavyweight for his Strikeforce debut against Sobral and took only 60 seconds to rip out Babalu’s soul. Nobody had ever torn through Sobral so quickly in any of the Brazilians eight previous losses. In doing so Mousasi put a jolting end to Sobral’s five-fight win streak dating back to 2007.

Now Mousasi faces the world’s best fighter in an exhibition match on M-1’s Breakthrough card in Kansas City. Had this exhibition match occurred a year ago, it would have been no cause for special attention. But in a world where serious challengers to Fedor’s title as simply the greatest MMA fighter on the planet are few and far between – a world in which Fedor makes the tooling of opponents look like child’s play – we need to keep a close eye on this exhibition match as a potential appetizer for a future Mousasi vs Fedor match up for real.

In a fight community infatuated with discussions about Brock Lesnar and Fedor Emelianenko, we shouldn’t lose sight of the real potential Fedor-beaters through the hype. Lesnar is big, strong and ever improving but in my book Fedor beats him inside of two rounds. I am not saying Mousasi would last any longer right now, but give the Armenian more time at heavyweight and he seemingly has all the weapons to prove an anomaly in the Fedor matrix.

As fight fans on August 28 we get to sit back and be entertained by two of the finest fighters in the world duking and rolling for our pleasure. Just know, however, that beneath the guise of this exhibition something much deeper and more meaningful will play out in the Kansas City M-1 ring. With every strike he throws, every takedown he attempts and every submission he tries to lock on, Mousasi will mentally press Ctrl+S on his phenomenal fight brain. It is information he will store, take home and dissect all in preparation for the day when he gets to square off against the greatest fighter on the planet. And Fedor knows this.

The question therefore is: will Fedor show his full hand and the full repertoire of his amazing ability in this exhibition match and send a stern message to Mousasi not to attempt to come after him at heavyweight? Or will Fedor show just a smidgeon of his brilliance and lure Mousasi into a false sense of security only for Fedor to shatter the Dreamcatcher’s dream when they do meet for real?

Editor’s Note: This article was written by HDNet Fights play-by-play announcer Michael Schiavello and originally appeared on HDNetFights.com. It has been re-printed with permission.