A heavyweight bout between Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (14-2) and Valentijn Overeem (28-25) may be on tap for the upcoming Dec. 4 Strikeforce card.
Alistair Overeem, younger brother to Valentijn, posted this notice on Twitter on Friday.
My brother Valentijn is fighting Antonio Silva on 4 december for his Strikeforce debut! Great news!
Despite the news from Alistair, Silva’s manager Alex Davis has stated that no offer has been made to fight Valentijn on Dec. 4th.
“Antonio isn’t in the business of picking opponents,” Davis said to MMAjunkie.com. “He’ll fight anybody, anywhere, anytime. Just send the contract, and he’s in. If Strikeforce wants us to face Valentijn, then that’s who we’ll fight. Antonio is anxious to get back in action, and he’ll fight regardless of who is on the other side of the cage.”
Silva is coming off a unanimous decision win over Andrei Arlovski at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery last May, erasing a loss to Fabricio Werdum last November. “Bigfoot” had won six straight matches, including the EliteXC heavyweight title, a bout in which he tested positive for steroid use and was suspended for a year by the California State Athletic Commission.
Overeem has fought for many organizations over his career including Rings, PRIDE, Sengoku, and K-1 most recently. The Dutch fighter has won two straight, both KO wins in the first round, against opponents C?t?lin Zm?r?ndescu and Tengiz Tedoradze this year. The career of Valentijn has had it’s ups and downs going at one point from 2001 to 2003, 2-10. Most recently his record is 4-2 preceding a four fight losing skid.
Chael Sonnen was scheduled to appear on MMA Live tonight to discuss his positive drug test, but decided to bail.
The weigh-in for Unified MMA 5 took place Thursday night at the Mirage Banquet Hall where the event also takes place Friday night. The main event is a welterweight title fight between Travis Briere and Ricky Goodall, with both fighters eventually making weight.