After Shane Del Rosario’s car accident last month caused him to pull out of a fight with Daniel Cormier slated for Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum on June 18th, it was unknown if Cormier would still be competing on the card. It seems that Strikeforce has found him an opponent, and it’s tough one – former UFC heavyweight title challenger Jeff Monson. Cormier had this to say on his twitter account earlier today:
http://sports.sho.com/#/mma/events/overeem-vs-werdum. Thx @ufc, @strikeforce and @SHOsports for finding me a great fight. DC vs Monson 🙂
The link in his tweet goes to the official Showtime Sports page for the card. And sure enough, the fight is now listed there. Cormier, a former Olympic wrestler who is undefeated in MMA at 7-0, last competed on a Strikeforce Challengers card in January where he picked up a decision win over Devin Cole. His matchup with Del Rosario was viewed as a fight between Strikeforce’s two top prospects at HW, but now he faces a man that has fought seemingly everywhere. Except Strikeforce.
Monson is a long-time veteran of the sport who is on an eight-fight winning streak who will be making his long-awaited Strikeforce debut against Cormier. He was scheduled to take on BE’s # 8 heavyweight prospect and Latvian monster Konstantin Gluhov on a 100% Fight card in Paris on May 28th, but it is unknown whether he will be able to keep that booking or not at this point.