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 Shields
will defend the belt against Henderson, Fedor fight put off till May
By Phil
Lanides
 StrikeForce
Middleweight Champion and local star Jake Shields confirmed on
MMAWeekly Radio that he will be scrapping with former UFC star Dan
Henderson for the belt in April. The question is whether or not the
fight will be shown on CBS or Showtime. Meanwhile, it looks like the
entire CBS event might be moved to May, anyway. And it’s all because
of Fedor Emelianenko.
Shields-Henderson appears to be on for April, CBS or not. “It's
a go now. We finally worked it out a few days ago,” said
Shields, who fights out of San Francisco. “It's a done deal,
it's been agreed upon by both parties as far as I know, and I think
it's set to go.” But which network will it be shown on? “I
have a date (and) venue, but they told me to hold that back,”
said Shields. “Hopefully CBS. I think it's CBS. There's a slight
possibility of Showtime because they're still (working it out). I
don't know the rest of the card or any of that yet. But me and Dan's
on, and I'm hoping it's on CBS.” Originally, the bout was
strongly rumored to take place on a planned StrikeForce event in
April on CBS, but as of this writing, the event has not yet been
announced, and it is looking unlikely to take place in April. An
event taking place on April 17th in Nashville, Tennessee has been
rumored, but not confirmed. And that brings us to Fedor.
MMAFighting.com is reporting that officials at M-1, Fedor’s
management company, have stated that the consensus #1 heavyweight in
the world will fight former UFC contender Fabricio Werdun as
expected, but that it will take place at a StrikeForce event in May.
Now that Emelianenko won’t be involved in a StrikeForce event in
April, the CBS event could be moved to May. This is due to a clause
in Fedor’s contract. According to MMAJunkie, Emelianenko’s contract
stipulates that his fights must air on CBS rather than Showtime,
which has a fraction of the audience that CBS has. If the CBS card
is moved, we will likely see a Showtime event in April headlined by
Shields-Henderson, and co-headlined by StrikeForce Light Heavyweight
Champion Gegard Mousasi and rising star Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.
For more from Phil
Lanides check out
http://www.examiner.com/x-9970-San-Jose-MMA-Examiner
http://www.fightofyourlife.com/
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