Strikeforce’s Mike Kyle (18-8-1 , 1NC) has been forced to withdraw from his #1 light heavyweight contender bout with Gegard Mousasi due to a broken hand.
News of Kyle’s injury was first reported by MMAFighting.com, who confirmed the news with Strikeforce director of communications Mike Afromowitz on Thursday afternoon. No replacement has been found to meet Mousasi at this time.
The two fighters had been scheduled to meet in just over a weeks time at the upcoming April 9 Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley event at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California. Their bout was to have taken place on the Showtime televised card. The event features two Strikeforce title fights as welterweight champ Nick Diaz meets Paul “Semtex” Daley, and lightweight title holder Gilbert Milendez defends his belt against Japanese fighter Tatsuya Kawajiri.
Kyle is coming off a loss in his last fight, a heavyweight match last December against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, who earned a second round knockout win. The defeat ended a six fight undefeated streak which included five wins and one no-contest.
Mousasi has won two in a row since losing the 205 pound title to Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal one year ago. The loss ended a fifteen fight win streak. His last mma bout took place in September against Tatsuya Mizuno for the DREAM LHW title. He submitted Mizuno in the first round with a rear-naked choke to win the Japanese title.