Kyle Injured, Out of April 9 Bout with Mousasi
Mike Whitman Mar 31, 2011
Mike
Kyle has broke his hand. | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
The return of the “Mak” will have to wait.
Mike Kyle has once again broken his hand and has been forced to withdraw from his April 9 Strikeforce confrontation with Dream light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi.
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The pair was scheduled to meet on the main card of Strikeforce “Diaz vs. Daley” at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, Calif. According to Sherdog.com's source, the search for a replacement for Kyle is currently underway. The event, which will be headlined by the titular welterweight fight between champion Nick Diaz and challenger Paul Daley, will air on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET/PT.
Kyle was most recently seen giving heavyweight contender Antonio
Silva all the Brazilian could handle at “Henderson vs. Babalu
2” in December. Heading into the fight riding a five-fight winning
streak, Kyle walloped Silva with an overhand right early in round
one, dropping his mammoth foe but breaking his right hand in the
process.
Though the American Kickboxing Academy product pounced and tried to end the fight, Silva survived the round and came back to finish the fight in the second frame with ground-and-pound. Kyle currently holds the King of the Cage light heavyweight championship and holds notable wins over Wes Sims, James Irvin and Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante.
Mousasi is widely regarded as one of the world's most talented fighters at 205 pounds. The Iranian-born Dutch-Armenian began his career in 2003 and made his Pride Fighting Championships debut in 2006 as a middleweight. After winning Dream's middleweight title by running a four-fight gauntlet with the Japanese promotion in 2008, Mousasi bulked up to light heavyweight and won Strikeforce's 205-pound crown.
Though the 25-year-old would lose the title in just his first title defense to Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal one year ago, Mousasi rebounded with back-to-back wins later that year to capture Dream's light heavyweight championship.
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