Another fight has been added to the preliminary card of the “Strikeforce: Rockhold Vs. Kennedy” event according to Strikeforce officials. Jorge Masvidal (22-7) will face Justin Wilcox (11-4) in a lightweight bout.
The event will take place on July 14th at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. The main card for the event will air on Showtime and the preliminary card is expected to air on Showtime Extreme.
Jorge Masvidal was last in action when challenging for the lightweight title against Gilbert Melendez in December 2011, losing the fight via unanimous decision. Prior to that fight Masvidal had built up a two fight winning streak in Strikeforce, defeating Billy Evangelista and K.J. Noons earlier that year. Masvidal will now begin the journey back to a title contention in his first fight of 2012.
Justin Wilcox enters this fight coming off a loss to Caros Fodor at the ‘Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal’ event in December 2011, losing via knockout in the first round. Prior to the loss Wilcox took on Gesias Cavalcante in a fight which ended in a no-contest due to an eye poke. Justin will now look to get back the winning form he had before these two most recent fights where he had managed to build up a six fight winning streak, defeating notable opponents such as Daisuke Nakamura, Shamar Bailey and Rodrigo Damm.
The “Strikeforce: Rockhold Vs. Kennedy” card currently looks like this:
Main Card
- Champ Luke Rockhold vs. Tim Kennedy (for middleweight title)
- Nate Marquardt vs. Tyron Woodley (for vacant welterweight title)
- Roger Gracie vs. Keith Jardine
- Lorenz Larkin vs. Robbie Lawler
Preliminary Card
- Jorge Masvidal vs. Justin Wilcox
- Pat Healy vs. Mizuto Hirota
- Jordan Mein vs. Tyler Stinson
- Jason High vs. Nate Moore
- Ryan Couture vs. Joe Duarte