Strikeforce Officially Returns to CBS on April 17 Featuring 3 Title Fights
Strikeforce today officially announced its expected return to CBS, which is scheduled for April 17 at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee and headlined by the Strikeforce debut of veteran Dan Henderson vs. middleweight champion Jake Shields.
The event, first rumored in December and subject to intense speculation in recent days, will also feature light heavyweight title-holder Gegard Mousasi vs. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki.
The CBS broadcast begins at 9pm ET on Saturday, April 17, but is delayed on the west coast.
Strikeforce made its CBS debut last November with a card headlined by top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers, which attracted 5.46 million viewers.
Tickets for “Strikeforce: Nashville” go on sale tomorrow at Ticketmaster.com at 10am CT.
For the latest Strikeforce news and Strikeforce rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
Tags: Dan Henderson, Gegard Mousasi, gilbert melendez, Jake Shields, Muhammed Lawal, Shinya Aoki




Great card! Can’t wait! Let’s go Hendo!!!
wow!! im pretty impressed. We get to watch 3 amazing bouts and also 3 title fights in the same card with 6 well rounded fighters!!!Hell yeah i will be counting down the days for this event.
I wouldnt say Aoki is well rounded but we’ll see how his stand up has improved, because i dont think Melendez will let it go to the ground
Without Fedor challanging Overeem for the HW title, this is about the strongest card that the ‘Force can drop.
If this doesn’t make the impact that both Coker and CBS are looking for, then I don’t know what will…
I agree 100%
They should save one of these bouts for the May card. Bringing Overeem in for the May card gives them some star power but let’s be real – Overeem is fighting on two cards BEFORE he fights on the event card for StrikeForce in May. Anyone think he might get injured before then?
Still, props on a decent card. Can’t wait to see Mousassi in action again.
WOW thats overloaded I think. They should at least drop one belt from this card. What will they do rest of the year? They are taking the fans on tip of the mountain but after this what is next?
Strikeforce has shown a tendency in the past to have their stars make short turnarounds, when possible.
I heard they are hoping to have Herschel Walker on the card as well.
I read somewhere that CBS squashed that.
In response to TC, I think it is a great card and a smart move. This card is going to have a huge fan draw, and of course, to answer your question of “what next” there is still this guy named Fedor that can headline a nice card after this one. I think they are just trying to prove they (Strikeforce) can be a mainstay on CBS.
So whenever their third CBS card is, they can Headline it with FE, and of course have other names like Overeem, Arlovski (recently signed), Bobby Lashley, Lawlor Etc. I can see them putting some legit fan drawing cards in the next year. Cheers mate! Agree to disagree, keep this card as is and stack the next one as well!
so its reported that brett rogers and overeem are fighting for the strap…that would make my day, in a comedy sort of way
I wonder if they plan on having a fouth fight on the card? Maybe showcase one of the up and coming women fighters or have that Tim Kennedy vs. Joey Villasenor fight to kick off the show.
I’d like to see Diaz vs Hieron in May , would be a good complimenting matchup to stack it up a bit …
They were talking about putting the card on Showtime ,but , this is another CBS quality event in my opinion . If FR702 is reading this , channel those thoughts into the right minds for me ……….
cool… but id wish gegard would come to ufc and fight anderson, now that will sell tickets
Gegard is a 205er now, and still has a contract with Strikeforce. I don’t know how much is left on his contract, but when it’s up, it would be nice if he did come to the UFC.
I see lot of people are making joke about the Overeem vs Rogers fight where as my view is opposite. I think it’s going to be very interesting and Roger will give a tough fight for Overeem.
I’ll take Mousasi over King Mo. Aoki over Melendez and Sheilds over Henderson.