Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum, also known as Strikeforce: Dallas, is an upcoming mixed martial arts event held by Strikeforce. The event is expected to take place on June 18, 2011 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The main card will air on Showtime while the preliminary card will air on HDNet.


Main card (Showtime)

Heavyweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal bout: Netherlands Alistair Overeem vs. Brazil Fabricio Werdum
Heavyweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal bout: United States Josh Barnett vs. United States Brett Rogers
Lightweight bout: United States K.J. Noons vs. United States Jorge Masvidal
Heavyweight bout: United States Daniel Cormier vs. United States Jeff Monson
Heavyweight bout: Netherlands Valentijn Overeem vs. United States Chad Griggs

Preliminary Card (HDNet)

Lightweight bout: Brazil Gesias Cavalcante vs. United States Justin Wilcox
Lightweight bout: United States Conor Heun vs. Brazil Magno Almeida
Welterweight bout: United States Nah-Shon Burrell vs. United States Joe Ray
Welterweight bout: United States Todd Moore vs. United States Mike Bronzoulis
Welterweight bout: United States Brian Melancon vs. United States Isaac Vallie-Flagg




Alternates

* United States Chad Griggs
* Netherlands Valentijn Overeem



Background

Originally scheduled for April 9th, this event is to host the two remaining quarter-final fights in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.
Muhammed Lawal was expected to fight Ovince St. Preux at this event, however now he is expected to fight Roger Gracie at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson.
Scott Smith has indicated that he is hoping to fight at this event.
Shane Del Rosario was scheduled to face Daniel Cormier in a Heavyweight Grand Prix Reserve bout. Del Rosario, however, had to pull out of the bout after a car accident in early May. Jeff Monson will now fight Cormier.
Amanda Nunes was schedule to face Julie Kedzie. However, a hairline fracture in her foot forced Nunes off the card.
Gina Carano was scheduled to make her Strikeforce return against Sarah D'Alelio. While approved by the Texas Athletic Commission, Carano opted to pull out of the fight on the advice of her own doctor.

-may 24 updated fightcard
-may 27 updated fightcard
-june 8 updated fightcard
-june 13 updated fightcard and background added temp poster/ dent

Sucks we have to wait till June for the other heavyweight fights. Kinda sucks for the guys that fought in Feb their going to have to wait awhile to fight again.

Updated fightcard poster etc

may 11 - updated fightcard and background

Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante finally has a fight.

After sitting in limbo for several months following a narrow decision loss to Josh Thomson this past October, Cavalcante (15-4-1 MMA, 0-1 SF) meets rising star Justin Wilcox (11-3 MMA, 5-1 SF) at "Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum."

The bout has joined a fellow fight of lightweights Conor Heun (8-4 MMA, 0-2 SF) vs. Magno Almeida (9-1 MMA, 0-0 SF) on the night's preliminary card.

MMAjunkie.com (http://www.mmajunkie.com) reported the Cavalcante vs. Wilcox matchup earlier this month, and Strikeforce executives since have made it and the Heun-Almeida fight official.

"Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum" takes place June 18 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, and the night's main card airs live on Showtime.

Cavalcante is in dire need of a career turnaround. The former American Top Team fighter has lost three of his past four fights, though the decision loss to Thomson met more than a few boos. The setback muted a win against Katsunori Kikuno this past July at DREAM.15, and the slide started with a points losses to Shinya Aoki at DREAM.2 and Tatsuya Kawajiri at DREAM.9.

Wilcox, meanwhile, is fresh off one of the most high-profile victories of his professional career. The American Kickboxing Academy product stopped Rodrigo Damm in the first round of their headlining fight at Strikeforce Challengers 15. It was the second event in which Wilcox served as the main draw. Wilcox, who lives at AKA during fight camps, now enjoys a six-fight win streak since a loss to Mitsuhiro Ishida in his Strikeforce debut in September 2008.

Heun, meanwhile, takes a third shot at a first Strikeforce win. The IFL veteran has fallen short in two recent barnburners with Jorge Gurgel and K.J. Noons. The jiu-jitsu black belt went 7-1 (with five stoppages) before the recent setbacks.

His opponent, Almeida, makes his Strikeforce debut after posting a 9-1 record with five straight submission victories while competing across the globe. His lone loss came to Fernando Paulon (5-1 at the time) via decision.

The latest "Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum" lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD

Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum (heavyweight grand-prix opening round)
Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers (heavyweight grand-prix opening round)
Gina Carano vs. Sarah D'Alelio
Daniel Cormier vs. Jeff Monson
Chad Griggs vs. Valentijn Overeem

PRELIMINARY CARD

Jorge Masvidal vs. K.J. Noons
Julie Kedzie vs. Amanda Nunes
Gesias Cavalcante vs. Justin Wilcox
Magno Almeida vs. Conor Heun
Mike Bronzoulis vs. Todd Moore*
* - Not officially announced



Source: http://mmajunkie.com/news/23747/strikef ... a-heun.mma

-may 27 updated fightcard

Carano fails to receive medical clearance, will not fight at "Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum"








Gina Carano's (7-1 MMA, 1-1 SF) return to action will have to wait.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker today announced that Carano's "medical clearance was revoked," leaving her ineligible to compete in a previously announced June 18 contest with Sarah D'Alelio (4-1 MMA, 0-0 SF) at "Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum."

With the contest scrapped, a lightweight bout between K.J. Noons and Jorge Masvidal has been promoted to the evening's Showtime-broadcast main card.

"Following a medical examination yesterday afternoon, Gina Carano's medical clearance was revoked by her doctor, and consequently, she will not be able to fight on June 18," Coker today said on a media call promoting the event. "The timetable for Gina's return will be determined after further testing conducted this week."

Coker declined to give any details on the Carano's condition, but instead read a prepared statement from the female contender.

"I'm seriously disappointed not to be fighting June 18," Carano's statement read. "I'd like to think Greg Jackson and Team Jackson for such an amazing camp. I hope this is only a brief setback."

Carano hasn't fought since an August 2009 TKO loss to current Strikeforce middleweight champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos.

Coker told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) the promotion has not yet determined if A'lelio will receive a replacement opponent, but he hopes to have more information as soon as today.

Featuring a pair of first-round contests in the Strikeforce's heavyweight grand prix, "Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum" takes place at the Dallas' American Airlines Center.

With the change, the full lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (Showtime)
Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum (heavyweight grand-prix opening round)
Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers (heavyweight grand-prix opening round)
Daniel Cormier vs. Jeff Monson
Chad Griggs vs. Valentijn Overeem
Jorge Masvidal vs. K.J. Noons

PRELIMINARY CARD (HDNet)
Gesias Cavalcante vs. Justin Wilcox
Magno Almeida vs. Conor Heun
Julie Kedzie vs. TBA
Sarah D'Alelio vs. TBA
Mike Bronzoulis vs. Todd Moore*
* - Not officially announced



Source: http://mmajunkie.com/news/23902/carano-fails-to-receive-medical-clearance-will-not-fight-at-strikeforce-overeem-vs-werdum.mma

well that sucks...
it will be good to see the reem back in action...
but i was really looking forward to eye raping carano when she fights...

what a shame, good thing rest of card is starting to look good.

Trio of bouts added to "Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum" HDNet prelims








It appears the ladies will have to sit out the next Strikeforce event.

Following Amanda Nunes' and Gina Carano's recent withdrawals from the card, three new bouts have been added to next week's "Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum" lineup.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) previously reported two of them: welterweights Todd Moore (13-4 MMA, 0-0 SF) vs. Mike Bronzoulis (12-2-1 MMA, 0-0 SF) and lightweights Brian Melancon (5-1 MMA, 0-0 SF) vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg (11-3-1 MMA, 0-0 SF). The third pits Nah-Shon Burrell (5-1 MMA, 0-0 SF) against fellow welterweight Joe Ray (5-1 MMA, 1-0 SF).

"Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum" takes place June 18 at American Airlines Center in Dallas. The night's main card airs on Showtime, and the preliminary card airs on HDNet.

Burrell, who's based out of Philadelphia, has posted knockout victories in all five of his career wins since turning pro in mid-2010. His only defeat came via decision to Christopher Curtis (5-2).

Ray, meanwhile, returns to Strikeforce for the first time since his pro debut, where he scored a first-round TKO of John Clarke at "Strikeforce: Miami." Since then, the Florian-based fighter has run his record to 5-1 with a knockout of UFC vet Chad Reiner and a submission victory over Bellator fighter John Kelly. His lone defeat came via split decision to undefeated Jeremy Smith.

The latest "Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum card now includes:

MAIN CARD (Showtime)
Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum (heavyweight grand-prix opening round)
Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers (heavyweight grand-prix opening round)
Daniel Cormier vs. Jeff Monson
Chad Griggs vs. Valentijn Overeem
Jorge Masvidal vs. K.J. Noons

PRELIMINARY CARD (HDNet)
Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante vs. Justin Wilcox
Magno Almeida vs. Conor Heun
Nah-Shon Burrell vs. Joe Ray
Mike Bronzoulis vs. Todd Moore
Brian Melancon vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg

dont know anyone from these new fights...