A bout between Strikeforce heavyweights Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (14-2) and Valntijn Overeem (28-25) is back on for the Dec. 4th Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu event.
Rumors of the bout surfaced in late September but where dismissed by Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker last week. Well apparently the fight is back on between the two fighters according to sources close to the event who spoke to MMAjunkie.com recently.
Silva enters with a 1-1 record under the Strikeforce banner having earned a unanimous decision over Andrei Arlovski at May’s Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery event. The loss came at the hands of Fabricio Werdum who scored a unanimous decision himself at last Novembers Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers event. That loss ended a six fight win streak for “Bigfoot” which included winning the first and only EliteXC heavyweight title. The title was quickly stripped from Silva due to a positive steroid test for which he received a one year suspension and a $2500 fine by the California State Athletic Commission.
Valentijn, older brother to the current Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem, will make his promotional debut against Silva at the December event. He has participated in many promotions across Europe and Japan. Currently he is on a two fight win streak with wins over C?t?lin Zm?r?ndescu at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Bucharest event, and Tengiz Tedoradze at the Pancrase Fighting Championship 2 event. Both fights occurred this year and both ended with first round knockouts for Overeem. He is 4-2 in his last six bouts, but a 4-6 in his last ten.
Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu is set for Dec. 4th at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Miss. and is headlined by a light-heavyweight rematch between Dan Henderson vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral.