Breaking: Former WWE Star Bobby Lashley Signs With Strikeforce

From a Strikeforce press release in my inbox as of 11:50pm:

NEW YORK (December 10, 2009)-Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) heavyweight champion and undefeated mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter has signed a multi-year agreement with STRIKEFORCE and will make his debut for the world championship MMA promotion at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida on Saturday, January 30.
The 6 foot 3 inch, 250 pound Lashley, also a former collegiate wrestling star for Missouri Valley College and member of The United States Army, will face an opponent that has not yet been determined during the live, SHOWTIME® telecast of STRIKEFORCE: Miami, the historic, first-ever STRIKEFORCE event in the state of Florida.
In his last MMA start on June 27, 2009, the 33-year-old pulverized and scored a first round (3:17) TKO on 6 foot 5 inch, 350 plus pound goliath Bob “The Beast” Sapp with a barrage of punches in Biloxi, Mississippi. The win brought Lashley’s overall MMA record to 4-0.

This signing has been rumored since Strikeforce’s Scott Coker promised two new heavyweight signings following their November 7 CBS event. The other rumored heavyweight name was Andrei Arlovski. This move has some parallels to the UFC’s move to get Brock Lesnar except that Lashley never managed to hit the levels of stardom that Lesnar did in the WWE despite being a champion and headlining a Wrestlemania event.

Lashley’s MMA career has, to this point, been successful but it is hard to really gauge his true progression as fights against guys like Bob Sapp and Jason Guida are far from major tests for someone of Bobby’s athletic abilities.

Lashley joins Dan Henderson in being major signings for the promotion this week which is a sign that the somewhat limited success of the CBS show has not slowed down the promotion’s willingness to sign names and try to push forward.

More details to come on the event as they emerge.