Ryan Jensen (11-3) will step in for Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos this Saturday night at the Strikeforce: "Shamrock vs. Cung Le" show in San Jose, Cailf., to face middleweight Joey Villasenor (24-6).
Strikeforce Vice President Mike Afromowitz today confirmed the match up and revealed that it will air on the main card of the Showtime broadcast that is set to begin at 10 p.m. ET.
Jensen has lost his last two fights, both of which have been in the UFC. He was submitted in the first round in both fights -- first to Thales Leites at UFC 74: "Respect" with an armbar and then to Demian Maia at UFC 77: "Hostile Territory" via rear naked choke.
Even though Jensen had an impressive record outside the Octagon (11-1), it will not be easy for him to beat Villasenor on such short notice.
Villasenor was originally tapped to fight Joe "Diesel" Riggs, but Riggs had to withdraw with a spinal injury. Cyborg was then Riggs' replacement, but Friday he was forced to back out of the fight because he was having visa problems in Brazil.
Villasenor I'm sure by now just wants to fight regardless of who his opponent is. He's a Greg Jackson-trained fighter, so I'm sure he's been staying in great shape and he'll be prepared and ready to go on Saturday.
He recently defeated Riki Fukuda in September with a split decision. Before that he lost an EliteXC middleweight title fight to Murilo "Ninja" Rua by technical knockout in June of last year.
Jensen will be a good replacement and this fight should be solid. After losing the Jake Shields and Drew Fickett title fight already today, at least they found a replacement for this fight and we didn't lose it altogether.
Saturday night should still be a great night of fights.
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