Renato "Babalu" Sobral is expecting to soon have another baby, forcing him to withdraw from his first-ever light heavyweight title defense against former Elite XC superstar, Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante, on the next major Strikeforce event slated for the the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., on June 6.
The good news is that the fight is expected to still take place; however, it will go down at a later date ... most likely in August. In the meantime, Feijao -- a training partner of UFC champion Anderson Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira -- is still expected to compete on the card.
In fact, the hunt for a suitable opponent to face the Brazilian smashing machine is already underway.
Feijao made a name for himself fighting under the Elite XC throughout the 2008 fight campaign. He competed three times for the promotion, defeating John Doyle (knockout), Wayne Cole (technical knockout) and Travis Galbraith (technical knockout), keeping his record nearly perfect (a lone controversial disqualification loss to Marcio Cruz is the lone blemish on an otherwise perfect ledger).
All three of those wins were first round stoppages. In fact, Feijao has never been taken out of the second round in any of his six professional victories. He'll look to keep that red-hot streak intact on June 6 to ensure that he remains the top contender in the division when "Babablu" is set return from changing dirty diapers.
Former Elite XC welterweight champ Jake Shields is booked to step up a few pounds and face the last reigning Elite XC middleweight title holder, Robbie Lawler, in the main event on fight night. Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem is also expected to make his return stateside against a soon to be announced opponent.
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more as the fight card starts to fill up. And be sure to catch up on all things Strikeforce in our archive right here.
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