Former Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier is stepping back into the cage under the Strikeforce banner against Jason Riley “Strikeforce: Houston” later this month.
The bout was made official by the promotion earlier today.
Cormier, who recently made the move from amateur wrestler to professional mixed martial artist, is a perfect 3-0 in the sport. His fight against Riley will be his third in Strikeforce. He debuted with the promotion with a technical knockout victory in September of last year and followed up the victory with a knockout in March. Cormier has finished all three of his fights via knockout.
Riley, 10-fight veteran of the sport, began his professional career with four consecutive victories. However, he enters this fight following a technical knockout loss to Devin Cole this past March. The loss was his second in three fights, with the other coming against former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia back in September of 2009.
The bout is the first to be announced for the preliminary card of “Strikeforce: Houston”, which is set for August 21 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The event is headlined by a light heavyweight championship contest between title-holder Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Rafael Cavalcante. The card also features a vacant middleweight title bout between Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.