There will be no bout with Jason “Mayhem” Miller at an upcoming end January Strikeforce event, instead welterweight champ Nick Diaz (23-7) will instead defend his title against Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (18-13) on Jan. 29th.
News was first reported by MMA Fighting who confirmed the match with sources in the Strikeforce organization on Wednesday. The bout will likely serve as the main event for the unnamed Strikeforce show.
Diaz will defend his title for a second straight time, putting an eight fight win streak on the line. The defending champ has put together a 9-1-0 (1) record over his last eleven fights, and is fresh off a unanimous decision win over KJ Noons last October. He’s fought twice more in 2010, earning a submission win over Hayato Sakurai by submission in a non-title bout at DREAM.14 in Japan, and in January of this year he became the first Strikeforce welterweight champ after TKOing Marius Žaromskis in the first round of their title bout.
“Cyborg” Santos meanwhile, is 1-1 under the Strikeforce banner having gone 3-2 in his last five. He dropped to 170 lbs for the first time in his last fight defeating Žaromskis last June by TKO. The spouse of women’s Strikeforce champ Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos has fought the likes of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Melvin Manhoef and Gegard Mousasi over his career.
The Jan. 29 Strikeforce event will take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California and Showtime will carry the main card on their network.