Shinya Aoki v. Gilbert Melendez At April Strikeforce on CBS Event

Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated tweeted the following yesterday:

This completes the three title fights that were planned for the promotion’s return to CBS. Melendez and Aoki will meet for the Strikeforce lightweight title while Dan Henderson meets Jake Shields for the middleweight belt and Gegard Mousasi will defend his light heavyweight strap against “King Mo” Lawal.

It’s a very solid card in terms of quality of competition but I do have my doubts over how much attention the card can draw. Undoubtedly Dan Henderson is the biggest “star” on the card but he has never been counted on to be the top draw for a major event. This is likely a major reason why rumors continue to mount that Herschel Walker will have his second MMA bout on the show. That would put a bout on the event that will be likely to bring in some casual attention.

The news of Melendez/Aoki comes on the heels of several other big moves by Strikeforce in the past 24 hours which should serve to kill some of the talk that the promotion is on its way out.

The lightweight title fight will be Aoki’s first career fight outside of Japan. He is currently riding a 6 fight win streak at 155 pounds, not having lost a fight at his natural weight since July of 2008. A win over Shinya (currently ranked #2 in the world) would cement Melendez’s place as a top 10 fighter at 155.