A light-heavyweight bout between Mike Kyle (19-8-1 MMA, 3-3-1 SF) and Gegard Mousasi (32-3-2 MMA, 3-1-1 SF) will be part of March's "Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey" event.
Kyle tweeted news of the bout, which will be part of the Ohio card. Soon after, MMAjunkie.com confirmed the booking with a source close to the event. Although it hasn't been decided if the fight will be for Strikeforce's vacant light-heavyweight title, it will co-headline the show.
"Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey" takes place March 3 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Columbus, and coincides with the annual Arnold Sports Festival. The main card airs on Showtime, and prelims air on Showtime Extreme.
Kyle fights for the first time since September, when he earned a unanimous-decision victory over Marcos Rogerio de Lima in a Strikeforce preliminary-card bout. The American Kickboxing Academy fighter is now 6-1 (with one no-contest) in his past eight fights, and the lone defeat came in a short-notice heavyweight bout with Antonio Silva.
He'll remain at light heavyweight to fight Iranian-born Armenian Mousasi, who is undefeated in his past five fights since a loss to Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal that cost him his Strikeforce title. Since then, the Armenian-Dutch fighter has picked up DREAM wins over Jake O'Brien and Tatsuya Mizuno, and following a draw with Strikeforce's Keith Jardine, a DREAM victory over Hiroshi Izumi and a pivotal unanimous-decision victory over Strikeforce's fast-rising Ovince St. Preux in December. Overall, Mousasi is 19-1-1 over his past 21 fights.
