M-1 Global officials apparently announced the change at an M-1 Selection Eastern European press conference Thursday. M-1 Global is Emelianenkoā€™s management company. Strikeforce has not confirmed the change.

Yesterday Fighters.com reported that Strikeforce was considering Nashville for their April event, which has long been pegged to air on CBS. However, Emelianenkoā€™s contract mandates his fights be aired on CBS. So, itā€™s likely the April event will be moved to CBS cable affiliate Showtime.

Itā€™s also now unclear whether the matchup between Strikeforce light heavyweight champion ā€œDreamcatcherā€ Gegard Mousasi (24-2-1) and ā€œKing Moā€ Muhammed Lawal (4-0) will occur in April or May. Mousasi has indicated heā€™ll only fight when Emelianenko fights, but itā€™s unclear whether thatā€™s a contractual mandate or merely his desire.

The move of the Emelianenko-Werdum matchup to May also potentially allows Strikeforce heavyweight champion ā€œDemolition Manā€ Alistair Overeem (29-10) to defend his title on the same card. Overeem had stated he couldnā€™t fight for Strikeforce until May.