With a light heavyweight title fight between champion Renato Sobral and challenger Rafael Cavalcante off the table for Strikeforce: "Lawler vs. Shields," Sherdog.com reports that "Feijao" (7-1) would instead square off against fellow EliteXC veteran Jared Hamman (10-1) on the Showtime televised event from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri on June 6.
It was just last week that "Babalu" announced he was pulling out of the fight to focus on the birth of his second daughter in May, but it's proven to be a difficult task for Strikeforce to find a suitable replacement that was willing to face the dangerous Brazilian.
In fact, just today there was news that former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman turned down the chance to take the fight.
Hamman is probably best known for his two fights against Poai Suganuma featured as main event bouts on last year's ShoXC Challenger Series cards. Hamman was handed the first loss of his career in the first matchup between the two on a controversial stoppage only 15 seconds into the first round.
However, he came back with a vengeance in the rematch, handing his rival a first round knockout of his own -- minus the controversy. That was last August, and Hamman hasn't competed since then. He was one of many fighters (including Cavalcante) to get caught up in the Pro Elite contract dispute after the promotion went under last October.
Hopefully for the Vladimir Matyushenko student, Strikeforce remembers him stepping up to the plate for them like this, because it's certainly not an enviable situation to be in.
Having to face a dynamic guy like Feijao, who comes from a great camp and is as well rounded as they come, is a difficult task on its own. But to have to do it on just a little over a month's notice is clearly not a formula for success.
Still, Hamman has a great opportunity here to defeat the man who was widely considered to be not only the top 205-pound fighter on the EliteXC roster, but possibly the best overall prospect to come from the now defunct promotion as well.
During his time with the organization, Feijao defeated John Doyle, Wayne Cole and Travis Galbraith, each by first round technical knockouts. His other four career wins were also early stoppages from strikes, and his only loss came on a disqualification in a heavyweight battle on an IFL card in 2007.
He gets his day-to-day training from guys like Anderson Silva and Antonio Nogueria. He has good size for a light heavyweight and hits like a Mack truck. Factor in his solid jiu-jitsu background and you have a serious, serious individual.
Jared Hamman will need the stars to align perfectly on June 6 if he's to pull off the upset. If he can, he'll steal Feijao's title of Strikeforce number one contender, in turn earning himself a shot at Babalu's belt sometime later this year.
The event is set to be headlined by a blockbuster battle between former EliteXC middleweight champion "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler and ex-welterweight title holder Jake Shields.
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more on the developing fight card.
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