Strikeforce will return to San Jose, Calif., at the HP Pavillion for its next event on November 21.
The promotion confirmed that the co-main event of the night will feature light heavyweight champion Bobby Southworth (9-5) defending his 205-pound title against former UFC number one contender Renato “Babalu” Sobral (30-7).
The two were originally set to lock horns for the belt at the Playboy Mansion last month, but both fighters were pulled from the card because of injuries suffered in training.
Southworth has been the champ since defeating Vernon “Tiger” White in December of 2006 with a unanimous decision. He successfully defended his strap for the first time in June with a win over Anthony “El Toro” Ruiz.
He’ll be facing the stiffest test of his career in the talented Brazilian and will surely come into the bout as a decisive underdog.
“Babalu” is well known in the mixed martial arts world as a well versed jiu-jitsu practitioner and a solid all around fighter. He holds wins over Pele, Maurice Smith, Cyrille “Snake” Diabate, Chael Sonnen. Remember that he also defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Trevor Prangley and Jeremy Horn in the same night to capture the title at the IFC’s Global Domination tournament several years back.
His experience in losses to Dan Henderson, Fedor Emelienenko, and Chuck Liddell is also invaluable to him as a mixed martial artist.
The main event for the card will showcase Josh “The Punk” Thomson’s first title defense since taking the belt from Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez in June. No opponent has been confirmed at this time.
In other Strikeforce news, middleweight champion Cung Le will wait to defend his title until the promotion’s first event in 2009. Japanese standout Kazuo Misaki or a rematch against Frank Shamrock are the likeliest candidates for his opponent as of right now.
