Alistair “The Demoliton Man” Overeem will be defending his Strikeforce heavyweight title against former UFC fighter Fabricio Werdum. Overeem has won 4 of his last 5 fights with one no-contest against Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at DREAM 6 due to illegal knees to the groin. The Dutch fighter acquired the Strikeforce belt back in November of 2007, submitting Paul Buentello via knees to the body. He was supposed to defend his title on the June 6 Strikeforce card, but he injured his hand in a bar fight just weeks before the event.
Werdum signed a fight deal with Strikeforce and was given an immediate title shot. Werdum was 2-2 in the UFC with wins over top heavyweight fighters including Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert was released by the UFC after his TKO loss to Junior Dos Santos back in October of 2008 at UFC 90. His only other UFC loss came during his octagon debut, losing to Andrei Arlovski via a unanimous decision.
The Strikeforce heavyweight title fight is scheduled to take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California on August 15th. The event will headline the much anticpated fight between Gina “Conviction” Carano vs. Christiane “Cyborg” Santos.
