Heavyweight prospect Shane Del Rosario’s introduction to the Ultimate Fighting Championship will take place Memorial Day weekend, if all goes as planned.
Del Rosario, whose 11-0 professional record put him among the top up-and-coming heavyweights in Strikeforce, will face former contender Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 146 in Las Vegas, the promotion announced Wednesday. The show, scheduled for May 26, will mark the first fight in more than 15 months for Del Rosario, who was sidelined for most of last year after a car accident near his home in southern California.
He last competed Feb. 12, 2011 at Strikeforce’s show in East Rutherford, N.J.
Since parent company Zuffa announced in December that Strikeforce would stop promoting heavyweights later this year, heavyweights from that brand have gone 3-0 in UFC, including former champion Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum and the man Del Rosario submitted in East Rutherford, Lavar Johnson.
Gonzaga is in the midst of his own comeback. Since coming back in October from a retirement that lasted almost a year, he has gone 2-0, including a UFC return last month that saw him submit Ednaldo Oliveira in the first round.
Other fights announced for UFC 146 include:
• Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy vs. Duane “Bang” Ludwig, welterweight strikers coming off losses
• Darren Elkins vs. Diego Brandao, the featherweight winner for Season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter
• Ballyhooed light-heavyweight Glover Texeira entering UFC against Kyle Kingsbury.
• Lightweight Jacob “Christmas” Volkmann taking on Paul Sass.
UFC also hopes to have heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos against former Overeem on the card, but those plans have not been finalized yet.
