Uno, Horodecki on the Punk's Short List

Fighters.com has confirmed with sources that Strikeforce is in negotiations with both Affliction and K-1 to find lightweight champion “Punk” Josh Thomson‘s (16-2) first title defense in San Jose 21 November.

According to Fighters.com’s source, Strikeforce has narrowed their list of opponents to up-and-coming Chris Horodecki (12-1) and veteran “Uno Shoten” Caol Uno (25-11-4).

Twenty-one-year old Horodecki won a UD over Nate Lamotte (6-3) in East Rutherford, west of New York City, 4 April, then signed with Affliction and agreed to fight on Affliction’s 11 October event before it was rescheduled.

A veteran of Shooto, UFC, K-1 Hero’s, and DREAM, Uno lost a UD to Fighters.com’s ninth-ranked lightweight “Tobikan Judan” Shinya Aoki (18-3) in the semi-finals of DREAM’s Lightweight Grand Prix in Osaka 21 July.

North American fans may be more familiar with Horodecki because of his nine-fight stint in the now-defunct International Fight League.  His only loss was by TKO in a rematch versus “Lion” Ryan Schultz (20-11-1) for the IFL lightweight title.

Uno fought seven times in the UFC between 2001 and 2003 going 3-3-1.  The last time Uno was stopped was in September 2005, before Horodecki even began his professional MMA career.

The two fighters present different challenges to Thomson, but both would be significant challenges.

Thomson TKO’d “Archer” Ashe Bowman (9-5) in Beverly Hills, north of Los Angeles, 20 September in a non-title fight.  He has been campaigning for a big-name fight since beating “El Nino” Gilbert Melendez (14-2) in San Jose 27 June for the Strikeforce belt.