(Photo by Carlos Ozório)
A lightweight matchup appears to be in the works for the upcoming Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum event in Dallas next month. Meeting in a lightweight bout will be Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante (15-4-1, 1NC) and Justin “The Silverback” Wilcox (11-3).
News of the bout first surfaced on MMAWeekly.com on Friday, noting that both men had agreed to the fight.
Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum is scheduled to take place on June 18 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The event features the remaining quarterfinal bouts of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament with champ Alistair Overeem taking on Fabricio Werdum, and Josh Barnett, who makes his promotion debut, versus Brett Rogers.
“JZ” Cavalcante has hit a bit of a skid in his career going 1-3 with 1 ‘No Contest’ in his last five fights. The Brazilian hasn’t fought since October of last year, when he made his Strikeforce debut against Josh Thomson at the Diaz vs. Noons II event in San Jose. “JZ” would lose a unanimous decision to “The Punk” at the event. Previous to that loss, he fought for DREAM earning a win over Katsunori Kikuno, as well as losing to Tatsuya Kawajiri and Shinya Aoki.
“The Silverback” Wilcox has won six straight bouts and has already competed this year in April, headlining a Strikeforce Challengers event against Rodrigo Damm. Wilcox earned a first round TKO win due to doctor stoppage earning his tenth victory in eleven fights. He’s fought for Strikeforce for five straight fights, and has headlined two Challengers events, defeating Vitor Ribeiro in November of last year.