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Next month's Strikeforce Challengers 11 event is now official.
Strikeforce officials today announced a trio of bouts for the card, including a headlining rematch between Roger Bowling (8-0 MMA, 1-0 SF) and Bobby Voelker (22-8 MMA, 2-1 SF), a Billy Evangelista (10-0 MMA, 6-0 SF) vs. Waachiim "Native Warrior" Spiritwolf (8-6-1 MMA, 0-0 SF) catchweight fight, and Lavar Johnson's (14-3 MMA, 2-0 SF) return against an opponent to be named.
Strikeforce Challengers 11 takes place Oct. 22 and airs on Showtime.
The event takes place at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. Tickets go on sale Friday, though a presale starts Wednesday for "Strikeforce Insider" e-newsletter subscribers.
Bowling and Voelker first met in May at Strikeforce Challengers 8. Bowling, a veteran of the Ohio-based MMA Big Show promotion, dominated the first two rounds of the welterweight fight before he suffered an accidental eyepoke. With Bowling unable to continue in the otherwise-entertaining fight, officials were forced to go to the judges' scorecards. Bowling earned the technical-decision win.
The victory moved the Ohio fighter to 8-0 and marked his first-ever decision win. Voelker, a veteran of the Midwest fight circuit, is now 2-1 in Strikeforce with wins over Erik Apple and Cory Devela.
Evangelista, meanwhile, returns from a near-year-long layoff. The rising lightweight contender, who most recently topped Jorge Gurgel at Strikeforce Challengers 4 in November 2009, now enters a 165-pound catchweight fight to take on Spiritwolf, a King of the Cage vet who recently dropped a unanimous decision to Delson Heleno after a 4-1-1 run in a variety of regional promotions.
Johnson, meanwhile, recently headlined Strikeforce Challengers 7 and topped Lolohea Mahe via second-round TKO. The fight was first his since being sidelined by a shooting at a family reunion in mid-2009 and marked his sixth straight win overall.
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