After a car accident sidelined Shane Del Rosario earlier this month, two-time Abu Dhabi World Champion and fellow heavyweight Jeff “The Snowman” Monson (42-11) will step in to face 2004 Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier (7-0) at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum on June 18 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
The event will mark Monson’s Strikeforce debut. Now 40-years-old, Monson has not fought for a ZUFFA promotion since he took on Tim Sylvia for the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 65 in Nov. 2006.
Nevertheless, Monson has remained one of the most active fighters in the the sport and is currently riding an eight fight win streak.
In April alone he picked up two heavyweight championship titles, first defeating former King of the Cage heavyweight champion Tony Lopez via unanimous decision at Fight Time 4 in Fort Lauderdale, winning the ISKA heavyweight title.
And then 29 days later, “The Snowman” flew to Switzerland and scored a unanimous decision win over Croatia’s Maro Perak (20-3-1) to win the Strength and Honor Championship heavyweight title.
On May 28, just three weeks prior to his fight with Cormier, Monson is scheduled to fight Latvian kickboxing champion Konstantin Gluhov (15-4) in France.
Monson will no doubt be Cormier’s stiffest test to date by far. Since beginning his fight career in Sept. 2009, Cormier has remained unbeaten with seven wins, including three by way of submission and three via (T)KO.
In his most recent bout Cormier scored a unanimous decision victory over Devin Cole (18-9-1) at Strikeforce Challengers 13 back in January.
The Olympian commented on his match-up with Monson via Twitter:
“I’m so excited and honored to be stepping in the cage with a guy that helped to build the sport @jeffmonson lets give em show brother. DC”
Monson replied:
“For sure @dc_mma. We will put on a good show. Much respect….”
Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum is headlined by two heavyweight quarterfinal tournament bouts; Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum and Brett Rogers vs. Josh Barnett. Check our Upcoming Events page for the full fight card line-up.