Sokjoudou-Alexander Co-Headlines Sept. 11 Shark Fights

A light heavyweight bout between Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Houston Alexander will co-headline Shark Fights 13 on Sept. 11 at the Amarillo Civic Center Coliseum, the promotion announced on Wednesday.

The event, which will get a live pay-per-view airing in the U.S., was recently moved from Lubbock to Amarillo, Texas.

Sokoudjou, a 2001 U.S. Open Judo Championships winner, began his meteoric career in Pride Fighting Championships with back-to-back knockout victories over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. The 26-year-old Cameroon fighter had a 1-2 run in the Octagon, losing to former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and Luis Arthur Cane. The Team Quest Temecula member has made appearances in both Dream and Strikeforce since then.

Most recently, Sokoudjou notched a win via disqualification against heavyweight Dave Herman at the Abu Dhabi Fighting Championships last May in the Middle East and a first-round TKO over Joaquim Ferreira at Impact Fighting Championship 1 on July 10 in Brisbane, Australia.

Omaha, Neb., native Alexander has had a similar career trajectory to his opponent following two consecutive knockout wins in the UFC against Keith Jardine and Alessio Sakara. The single father of six then collected three straight losses in the UFC, and was defeated by Kimbo Slice upon his return to the promotion for “The Ultimate Fighter 10” Finale last December. In June, the 38-year-old Alexander earned a unanimous decision win against David Griffin at an Ultimate Fighting Alliance event in Charleston, S.C.

In the evening’s main event, recently released UFC fighter Keith Jardine will face promotional champion Trevor Prangley in a light heavyweight non-title bout.

Editors note:
This item was updated at 5:45 p.m. ET to clarify that Machida is a former UFC light heavyweight champion.