A light heavyweight bout between jiu-jitsu phenom Roger Gracie and South African veteran Trevor Prangley will be part of the televised main card at the upcoming Strikeforce event on January 29th. MMARising.com confirmed plans for the fight with a source close to the negotiations on Monday.

Gracie last competed in a dominant second-round submission victory over Kevin “The Monster” Randleman at Strikeforce: “Heavy Artillery” on May 15th and remains unbeaten in MMA. Prangley, meanwhile, has won six of his last eight fights including a win over former UFC contender Keith Jardine.

Gracie (3-0-0), widely recognised as one of the very best jiu-jitsu practitioners in mixed martial arts, made his MMA debut in early December 2006, but has thus far competed sparingly in the sport. His second MMA bout came close to 18 months later when he submitted Pancrase legend Yuki Kondo at Sengoku: “Second Battle” and it was a full two calendar years before Gracie would return again to MMA to submit Randleman. Now looking to make a run in the Strikeforce light heavyweight division, Gracie will face an experienced veteran in Prangley in the January 29th matchup.

Prangley (23-6-1) has faced many of the sport’s best fighters in the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, and seemed poised to reach contender status in Strikeforce earlier this year after winning 12 of 13 fights. However, Prangley was fortunate to escape with a Technical Draw in a February bout with Karl “Psycho” Amoussou – in a fight that Prangley appeared to be losing – and was quickly submitted by Tim Kennedy in June. Prangley has since rebounded with a close decision win over Jardine outside of Strikeforce and will look to find greater success in the promotion at 205 pounds.

The January 29th Strikeforce event will take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, and will air live on Showtime in the U.S. and Super Channel in Canada.

(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)