Wednesday, May 10, 2006
by Sherdog.com Staff
It didn't take long for Alistair Overeem to find a fight after Fabricio Werdum submitted him last Friday in the opening round of PRIDE's Open-Weight Grand Prix.
The Dutch star, who upped his weight from 205 pounds to nearly 230 for the tournament, will replace Kevin Randleman as Vitor Belfort's opponent for the main event of Strikeforce's second mixed martial arts card at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., the promotion announced Wednesday.
The headlining contest, which will also serve as a rematch between the two (Overeem submitted Belfort by guillotine choke in their first clash), prompted Strikeforce promoters to re-title their event from "Showdown" to “Revenge.”
Randleman was forced out of the light heavyweight contest late last week after infection set in on his surgically-repaired shoulder.
“We are extremely pleased that we’ve been able to rectify the unfortunate situation that had temporarily stripped us of a main event and that our solution will allow us to give our fans the world-class matchup that they expected in the first place,” said Javier Mendez, Fighter Relations Consultant for Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment (SVS&E).