Jorge Gurgel and Joe Duarte will meet in the main event of “Strikeforce Challengers: Gurgel vs. Duarte.”
The event takes place Aug. 12 at the Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Gurgel announced his participation in the fight on Wednesday morning, and MMAJunkie.com confirmed that Duarte will be his opponent.
The event will be the third Strikeforce Challengers card to take place at the Pearl after the new owners at Zuffa recently made the resort its permanent home. The card will air on Showtime.
Gurgel scored a submission win over Billy Vaughn at “Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson” in March. The win stopped a two-fight losing streak that had placed Gurgel in danger of losing his Strikeforce job.
Duarte was a cast member on the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter. Since losing to Phillipe Nover on the show, Duarte has gone 5-1. His last appearance came at “Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley” earlier this year, where he posted a win over Saad Award on the preliminary card.