By Mike Chiappetta
- Senior Writer
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Strikeforce heavyweight champion
Alistair Overeem is expected to make his long-awaited return to the fold and fight for the promotion during its May event.
Overeem confirmed his participation on his Twitter account, and though he later deleted the message, a source told MMA Fighting that he is still expected to compete on the event, which is still unannounced but expected to take place on May 15.
The source said Overeem is likely to fight
Brett Rogers in a non-title matchup, but that the fight was not yet officially signed.
Overeem has not fought in Strikeforce since capturing the organization's heavyweight title in Dec. 2007, choosing to fight several MMA and K-1 matches overseas since then. In the time since, he's had several false starts in returning to Strikeforce.
He was confirmed to return to Strikeforce as recently as last August, when he was forced to
pull out of a scheduled title defense against
Fabricio Werdum with a hand injury.
With a record of 32-11 with one no contest, Overeem has not lost under MMA rules since Sept. 2007 when he was knocked out by
Sergei Kharitonov.
An official announcement of his participation on the Strikeforce card could come in the next few days as the company finalizes contracts. The promotion had hoped to eventually pit Overeem against international star
Fedor Emelianenko, but the matchup appears increasingly unlikely for a May date as Emelianenko's management team and the Strikeforce brass remain locked in contract renegotiation issues.
Read More: front page rss, news, Alistair Overeem (MMA), Brett Rogers (MMA), Fabricio Werdum (MMA), Fedor Emelianenko (MMA), Sergei Kharitonov (MMA)
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