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Werdum to battle Silva at Strikeforce on CBS

A fight between Strikeforce heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum and former EliteXC heavyweight champion Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva is expected for Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers on Nov. 7 in Chicago.

Independent sources close to the bout told MMAWeekly.com that it will be one of the four bouts featured on the CBS televised portion of the fight card. Other televised bouts include the main event between Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers, the Strikeforce middleweight championship between Jake Shields and Jason "Mayhem" Miller, and light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi in a non-title bout against an opponent yet to be named.

"My manager called me asking if I agree to fight him, and I said yes and that I was ready," Werdum recently told Brazilian website Tatame.com, before adding, "but I think this fight won't happen anymore." At the time, Werdum believed that Silva was instead going to accept a fight for Sengoku in Japan.

A later update on Tatame.com quoted Silva's manager, Alex Davis, as saying, "I spoke with them and they said everything it's okay. I'm in Brazil and I don't know more about it, but I think it's gonna happen."

Werdum (12-4-1) made his Strikeforce debut with a submission win over Mike Kyle at August's Carano vs. Cyborg event.

Silva (13-1) has never fought for Strikeforce, but defeated Jim York at Sengoku: Tenth Battle in September. He is currently on a six-fight winning streak.