Ovince St. Preux meets Gian Villante in battle of Strikeforce vets at UFC 159

A pair of Strikeforce vets will make their UFC debuts in April at UFC 159.

Ovince St. Preux (12-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will meet Gian Villante (10-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in a light heavyweight bout when the UFC returns to New Jersey. UFC officials passed on word of the fight overnight, citing news first reported by Newsday....

UFC 159 takes place April 27 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The main card, including a headliner between light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen, airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

St. Preux went 6-1 under the Strikeforce banner with his lone loss coming against former 205-pound champion Gegard Mousasi. In August, he got back in the win column with a third-round knockout of T.J. Cook in San Diego. Before his loss to Mousasi, St. Preux had an eight-fight win streak with five stoppages.

Villante will get to fight in his home area for the first time in more than two years. The New Yorker, a former heavyweight champion for the New Jersey-based Ring of Combat promotion, went 3-2 for Strikeforce. But he won three straight to close out his career there. His two losses in the promotion came to Chad Griggs and Lorenz Larkin.

The latest UFC 159 lineup includes:
Champ Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen - for light heavyweight title
Alan Belcher vs. Michael Bisping
Phil Davis vs. Vinny Magalhaes
Pat Healy vs. Jim Miller
Cheick Kongo vs. Roy Nelson
Nick Catone vs. James Head
Al Iaquinta vs. Joe Proctor
Rustam Khabilov vs. Yancy Medeiros
Ovince St. Preux vs. Gian Villante