Strikeforce recently announced that lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez would be in the main event of the January 12th card against Pat Healy, but he will not be able to fight because of a shoulder injury.
The news was revealed by his trainer Cesar Gracie, who told Tatame that the fighter has not recovered from the injury that initially forced him off of the scheduled September Strikeforce show.
Gracie told the Brazilian site that he felt that his fighter never recovered from the injury and when Melendez visited his doctor this week, the doctor would not allow him to fight.
Strikeforce has not officially announced that Melendez is off the card, but it appears that it will be announced in the next couple of days.
With Melendez injured and out, it’s unknown if Healy will stay on the card or if Strikeforce will find him another fight. A potential opponent for Healy could be Josh Thomson. His training team has already taken to Twitter to propose the fight.
Melendez is out of the Strikeforce January card. How about Thomson @therealpunk vs Healy for interm belt,Strikeforce LW king then TBD in UFC
— AKA HQ (@AKA_HQ) November 16, 2012
Thomson is currently not scheduled to be on the January Strikeforce card, but this is a fight that would make sense and also keep both fighters active. With the future of Strikeforce unknown at this time, a interim title fight would be unlikely.