UFC
Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson sign on for July 30 Strikeforce bout near Chicago
May 28, 2011 - 5:00:08 PM Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson sign on for July 30 Strikeforce bout near Chicago

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Dan Henderson and Fedor Emelianenko will indeed meet in a heavyweight fight on July 30 in the Chicago area, as multiple published reports state that both fighters have signed their bout agreements for the fight.

The fight had been discussed at length for some time, and now both fighters have officially signed on to meet each other on the yet-to-be-announced card.

It will be the second fight of 2011 for each fighter, though they've each had considerably different results over the last year.

Emelianenko looks to halt the first two fight losing skid of his career, suffered in consecutive bouts with Fabricio Werdum and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva. Prior to those fights, "The Last Emperor" had built his name as one of the greatest ever in the sport, going unbeaten for nearly a decade.

Henderson has been one of the more successful fighters in the sport as well, and at 40 years old remains a relevant force in the 205 lb. division as Strikeforce's current Light Heavyweight Champion. Though his entrance to Strikeforce was spoiled by Jake Shields last April, Henderson has since added knockout wins over Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante to his resume, and now takes on a fellow former Pride Champion in Emelianenko.

The fight will headline Strikeforce's July 30 event from the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, just outside of Chicago, Ill. The organization previously ran the venue in November of 2009 for Emelianko's debut fight against Brett Rogers, which was also the first of only two events for Strikeforce on CBS.

Penick's Analysis: This is great news. As has been the case for a lot of Fedor's recent fights, it has seemed the negotiating period always makes things more complicated or difficult than they need to be. However, that period for this fight is over without much of the headaches of previous fights, and now that bout agreements are signed it's just a matter of waiting to find out which fights will be joining this one outside of Chicago for what should be another entertaining and enjoyable event.