With injuries to Gilbert Melendez and Luke Rockhold, Strikeforce has had to find new opponents for Pat Healy and Lorenz Larkin for their January fight card
Strikeforce officials announced on Thursday that Larkin will now face former Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Healy will face former Strikeforce title contender Jorge Masvidal.
Both fights will take place on the main card of Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine, which will air live on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/PT on January 12th from the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The new main event for the card will be Nate Marquardt defending the Strikeforce welterweight title against Tarec Saffiedine after the injuries that suffered Melendez and Rockhold off the card.
Larkin (13-0, 1NC) was scheduled to take on Rockhold for the middleweight title and this is the second time the fight has been canceled with the champion suffering an injury. Jacare (16-3) was not scheduled to be on this card originally and whoever wins this fight could be in line for a shot at Rockhold if this is not the last Strikeforce fight card.
Just like Larkin, Healy (30-15) has had a title fight cancel on him because of an injury as he was originally scheduled to take on Melendez in September. Melendez pulled out of the fight with an injury and Strikeforce ended up canceling the fight card. Masvidal (23-7) has won five of his six Strikeforce fights, with his only lost coming against Melendez in a title fight late last year.
The current Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine card is below:
Nate Marquardt (35-10-2) vs. Tarec Saffiedine (13-3)
Daniel Cormier (10-0) vs. Dion Starling (28-7)
Gegard Mousasi (32-3-2) vs. Mike Kyle (19-9-1, 1NC)
Ronaldo Souza (16-3) vs. Lorenz Larkin (13-0, 1NC)
Pat Healy (30-15) vs. Jorge Masvidal (23-7)
Roger Gracie (5-1) vs. Anthony Smith (17-7)
Tim Kennedy (14-4) vs. Trevor Smith (9-2)
KJ Noons (10-4) vs. Ryan Couture (5-1)