Nam Phan (14-4) and Billy Evangelista (6-0) will finally get their chance to fight each other Friday, June 27 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on the Strikeforce 10: "Melendez vs. Thomson" card.
The two lightweights were originally scheduled to fight last November at Strikeforce: "Four Men Enter, One Man Survives," but it was scrapped because of injuries.
The 25-year-old Phan is a scrappy lightweight with blazing speed and knockout power. He's won nine of his last 11 fights, including five technical knockouts and three submissions.
His last fight under the Strikeforce banner was a unanimous decision loss to now number one lightweight contender Josh "The Punk" Thomson in December of 2006 at Strikeforce: "Triple Threat." It was a great fight (video here) -- perhaps the fight of the night; however, in the end Phan seemed just too small for Thomson and "The Punk" controlled most of the fight.
Evangelista is coming off a third round knockout of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 6 alum -- and self proclaimed street fighting legend -- Marlon Sims at Strikeforce: "Shamrock vs. Le" in March. Before that he won a split decision at the Playboy mansion over Clint Coronel last September.
He is undefeated (3-0) fighting for Strikeforce and is among the promotion's top young prospects. Despite his wrestling and jiu jitsu background, he has a decent stand up game. Four of his six wins have been by technical knockout.
This should be an electrifying fight. Both of these guys bring it every time out and are always looking to end fights on their feet.
Of course, the main event for this show is a lightweight title fight between champion Gilbert Melendez and Josh "The Punk" Thomson.
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