Strikeforce ‘Melendez vs. Healy’ Gets Welterweight Scrap Between Nah-Shon Burrell and Yuri Villefort

Promotion officials announced the pairing on Thursday, making nine fights now official for the Sept. 29 event, which takes place at the Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento, Calif. The evening’s main draw airs on premium cable network Showtime and is headlined by a titular lightweight title confrontation between Gilbert Melendez and Pat Healy. The preliminary draw immediately precedes the main card broadcast and airs on sister network Showtime Extreme.

Burrell, 22, recently saw a six-fight winning streak snapped when he suffered a first-round technical knockout at the hands of lanky foe Chris Spang. That May 19 setback served as Burrell’s first Strikeforce defeat, as “The Rock-N-Rolla” previously earned victories over Joe Ray, Lukasz Les and James Terry in his first three promotional outings.

Like his opponent, Villefort, 21, was also bested on May 19 in his most recent in-cage appearance, dropping a split decision to Quinn Mulhern at “Barnett vs. Cormier.” The bout was the first in nearly two years for Villefort, who underwent knee surgery last summer. Widely regarded as one of the welterweight division’s top prospects, the Floridian earned five finishes in his first six fights as a professional.