Strikeforce makes Colorado debut on Oct. 3; Morgan vs. Ludwig, and Baroni booked

By Dann Stupp for MMAjunkie.com on Aug 13, 2008 at 2:00 pm ET

The California-based Strikeforce organization will continue its national expansion when it makes it Colorado debut on Oct. 3 for "Strikeforce: Payback."

The event takes place at the Broomfield Event Center near Denver, Colo., and airs on HDNet, Strikeforce Vice President Mike Afromowitz today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

In a featured bout, Duane Ludwig (16-8) gets his long-awaited rematch with Sammy Morgan (19-10), and Phil Baroni (12-10) and Frank Trigg (16-6) are also tentatively scheduled for the event.

The Colorado event will be just the second show Strikeforce has held outside California. The organization held an event, "Strikeforce at the Dome," in Washington earlier this year with a headline bout of Jan Nortje vs. Bob Sapp.

Ludwig and Morgan, both Strikeforce and UFC veterans, first met in April 2005 at a Ring of Fire event in Colorado. In the night's main event, Morgan scored a first-round, 52-second knockout of Ludwig.

Ludwig last fought in March at World Victory Road's debut show, where he suffered a first-round TKO to highly ranked lightweight Takanori Gomi. Morgan, meanwhile, has lost his past two fights, though the losses came to notables Cung Le and Paul Daley.

Baroni, who recently dropped to welterweight, is also expected to fight at the event. The UFC and PRIDE veteran has already fought four times in 2008 -- twice for ICON Sport and once for EliteXC and Cage Rage -- and he's slated to fight Sept. 26 for Palace Fighting Championships. With just one week between the PFC and Strikeforce events, it's unclear which one will take precedence.

Additionally, Trigg, who returns from an eight-month layoff next week at World Victory Road's "Sengoku 4" event, is tentatively scheduled for the Strikeforce event. However, the veteran fighter today told MMAjunkie.com that he has not yet signed a contract with Strikeforce and that the Oct. 3 bout depends on how he feels after his Aug. 24 bout with Makoto Takimoto.

"However, I would like to fight three times before the end of the year -- once next week for World Victory Road, Oct. 3 for Strikeforce, and then on New Year's Eve in Japan," he said.

Strikeforce will be the second major MMA organization to hold an event in Colorado this year. The UFC held its UFC Fight Night 13 event at the same venue on April 2.

For the latest on "Strikeforce: Payback," stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.