NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Three-time UFC vet John Salter will make his Strikeforce debut on Jan. 7 at Strikeforce Challengers 13 against undefeated Casey “Hellbent” Huffman as part of the non-televised preliminary portion of the card.
ProMMAnow.com confirmed the news today with sources close to the situation.
Salter (5-2) was originally scheduled to face Yancy Medeiros (9-0) on the Showtime televised main card but was removed after Medeiros was reportedly injured in training and had to pull out.
Salter, originally a Birmingham, Ala. product, currently trains out of Ed Clay’s Nashville MMA. Armed with a strong wrestling and grappling foundation, Salter went undefeated as an amateur and won his first four bouts as a pro before signing with the UFC as a late replacement against Gerald Harris at UFC Fight Night 20 in Jan. 2010.
He lost the bout against Harris via third round TKO but bounced back in his next bout in May with a first round TKO over veteran Jason MacDonald, albeit due to injury. At UFC 118 in August, Salter was submitted by Dan Miller via guillotine in the second round.
Having turned pro in 2009, Salter is still very young in his career. However, he will meet someone even younger in their career on Jan. 7.
Huffman (2-0) turned pro in 2010 and has won both his fights this year via first round TKO stoppage. His most recent victory was against an undefeated Jason Wilson who was 4-0 when they clashed at Colessum Combat 12 in April.
Huffman is from Kokomo, Ind. and fights out of Garra BJJ where he is a jiu-jitsu instructor.
The complete Strikeforce preliminary card can be seen here: Exclusive: Strikeforce Challengers 13 preliminary card official for Jan. 7 in Nashville.