A middleweight title fight between champion Luke Rockhold (9-1 MMA, 8-0 SF) and Tim Kennedy (14-3 MMA, 5-1 SF) will headline a major Strikeforce show in Oregon.
Strikeforce officials today announced the event, which takes place July 14 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore.
Other announced bouts include middleweights Lorenz Larkin (12-0 MMA, 3-0 SF) vs. Robbie Lawler (19-8 MMA, 3-4 SF) and middleweights Roger Gracie (4-1 MMA, 2-1 SF) vs. Keith Jardine (17-10-2 MMA, 0-1-1 SF).
The night's main card airs on Showtime, and Showtime Extreme carries the prelims.
Despite today's announcements, an expected welterweight title fight between Nate Marquardt (31-10-2 MMA, 0-0 SF) and Tyron Woodley (10-0 MMA, 8-0 SF) wasn't mentioned.
Rockhold looks for his second successful title defense since narrowly winning the belt from Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and then defending it with a January knockout of Jardine. The American Kickboxing Academy fighter now has eight straight wins, all of which have come in Strikeforce.
Kennedy fought for the vacant Strikeforce title in August 2010 and suffered a unanimous-decision loss to Souza. Since, then, the IFL/WEC vet climbed back into title contention with a submission victory over Melvin Manhoef and a decision win over Lawler. However, the title fight will mark his first fight in nearly a year.
Larkin, meanwhile, carries a perfect record into the fight. However, it's only after his January knockout loss to Muhammed Lawal was changed to a no-contest when "King Mo" failed a post-fight drug test. Prior to the bout, Larkin opened his career with a perfect 12-0 record that included eight knockouts.
Lawler recently snapped out of a 1-3 skid with a dazzling flying-knee TKO of Adlan Amagov in January. Prior to the much-needed win, the former EliteXC champion had suffered losses to notables such as Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Souza (title fight) and Kennedy.
Finally, after submission wins over the likes of light heavyweights Kevin Randleman and Trevor Prangley, Gracie suffered his first pro-MMA loss to Lawal back in September. Gracie decided to drop a weight class after the knockout loss. The world-champion grappler and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt recently had mentioned a desire to fight in the UFC, though UFC president Dana White denied a subsequent rumored move.
Jardine gets a third shot at a first Strikeforce win. The longtime UFC fighter joined Strikeforce a year ago after a pair of wins over Francisco France and Aron Lofton in regional competition. After fighting Strikeforce's Gegard Mousasi to a majority draw in a late-replacement booking, he dropped to middleweight but suffered a TKO loss to champion Rockhold in January.
