Hieron Signs with STRIKEFORCE

The pieces are falling ladies and gentlemen! Jay Hieron follows in the footsteps of fellow Affliction victim Gegard Mousasi and has signed with STRIKEFORCE. This strengthens Strikeforce’s welterweight division a little more since having an absolute stud like “The Thoroughbred” is a real nice addition to a weak division depth wise.

Hieron who is coming off a 45 second KO victory in his last outing at Affliction “Day of Reckoning” is one of the better welterweight fighters not fighting in the talent rich UFC division and was actually offered a UFC contract before he signed on to Affliction due to business reasons.

Hieron is now being touted as Nick Diaz’s next opponent and may in fact be fighting on the August 15th card, replacing Joe “Diesel” Riggs and further strengthening an already stacked card on Strikeforce “Carano v/s Cyborg”.

If this match is made, this could possibly be the show stealer in this card and makes Strikeforce’s next event an even more must-watch.

Affliction has seemingly cancelled its Trilogy event officially. According to SI.com, Affliction has now officially cancelled its Trilogy event scheduled to happen on August 1st after the Josh Barnett failed drug test debacle.

“Finding an opponent for the number one ranked MMA heavyweight champion in such a short period of time was a huge endeavor and I’m thrilled at the amount of fighters willing to take on this challenge,” Affliction Vice – President Tom Atencio said in a press release. “But in the end, we just didn’t have enough time to promote a new fight to our standards.”

Following Barnett’s drug results, there was a lot of speculation of who could replace him against Fedor. The list included Brett Rogers, Middleweights Vitor Belfort, Jorge Santiago, Strikeforce Heavyweight Fabricio Werdum, perennial fighter Jeff Monson, etc.

However, in the end, Affliction MMA seems to be most hit by this turn of events and it remains to be seen as to whether they will continue promoting events or not.

In related news, the rumours have started as to whether Fedor will actually cross over and fight in the Strikeforce event scheduled after the August 15th Carano/ Cyborg card against Fabricio Werdum, although the chances of that fight happening are not as bright as it would otherwise have been.

Werdum to replace Barnett?

The Rumour Mill is working overtime! The latest rumour to hit the MMA scene is that Strikeforce Heavyweight Fabricio Werdum is all set to replace Josh Barnett at Affliction: Trilogy against Fedor.

Werdum, who is thought of by some as the best heavyweight Jiu Jitsu fighter outside of Minotauro Noguiera, is a dangerous fighter who has upped his striking game after joining the always infamous Chute Box camp. Werdum, who started gaining notoriety after working as Mirko Cro-Cop’s Jiu Jitsu coach, is a championship level grappler and will prove to be a relaly tough test for Fedor, if the fight does happen.

Werdum was slated to fight Alistair Overeem for the Strikeforce Heavyweight title in August on the card headlined by the Carano-Cyborg fight but had to sit out due to Overeem re-aggravating an injury to his hand.