A welterweight battle between hard-hitting strikers Paul “Semtex” Daley and Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos has been added to the upcoming Strikeforce: “Fedor vs Henderson” card on July 30th in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Daley’s management confirmed plans for the matchup this past weekend.

Both fighters will look to rebound from stoppage losses to Nick Diaz in a pair of Strikeforce Welterweight Championship bouts this year. Santos fell victim to a Diaz armbar late in the second round of their January fight, while Daley was knocked out by Diaz with seconds remaining in round one in April.

Daley (27-10-2) looked to be well on his way to a UFC title shot after back-to-back first-round stoppages of Martin Kampmann and Dustin Hazelett inside the Octagon, but was released from the promotion after punching Josh Koscheck following their UFC 113 bout, which Daley lost by Unanimous Decision. He put together four straight wins outside of the UFC, including a brutal one-punch knockout of Scott Smith in Strikeforce last December, to earn the shot at Diaz’s Strikeforce title on April 9th. While he had early success and nearly finished Diaz with punches at one point, Daley was ultimately stopped himself very late in round one.

Santos (18-14-0), a former light heavyweight and middleweight, opted to drop down to 170 pounds following a razor-thin loss to Joey Villasenor in 2009 and picked up an impressive first-round stoppage win over DREAM Welterweight Champion Marius Zaromskis at Strikeforce: “Live” last June. With few top contenders remaining in the welterweight division, Santos was positioned for a title shot against Diaz in January and was well on his way to winning the first two rounds with effective striking before an ill-timed takedown late in round two led to Diaz securing an armbar for the victory.

With both fighters possessing knockout power in both hands – combining for 31 career knockout wins, as well as multiple submission victories due to strikes – a striking battle may look to be all but assured, but Santos has demonstrated that he is capable of taking fights to the ground when opportunities have presented themselves. As Daley’s ground game is still a weak point, Santos may look to avoid Daley’s punches by working his underrated jiu-jitsu skills on the mat to try to trap Daley in a submission.

Strikeforce: “Fedor vs Henderson” takes place on July 30th at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The event is headlined by a heavyweight bout between former PRIDE champions Fedor Emelianenko and Dan “Hendo” Henderson.

(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)