(Photo courtesy of Sherdog)

By Elias Cepeda for CagePotato.com

Despite putting together perhaps his most impressive win ever at UFC 107, a second round submission of Clay Guida, Kenny Florian isn’t taking a break just yet. In fact, the lightweight contender tells CagePotato that he wants to fight again within three months.

“I want to get back in there within the next few months. I want to fight every three to four months. That’s when I’m at my best, that’s how I stay healthy and sharp. That’s the best time frame for me,” he says.

Florian (12-4) has yet to get word from his UFC bosses as to what is next for him and when, but hopes to hear something shortly and assumes he’ll be a part of the UFC’s first event in the state of Massachusetts. Florian is a Massachusetts native and resident and after professional MMA became legal and regulated there late last month, an August UFC card in the Boston area has been strongly rumored.

“I have heard nothing from the UFC as of right now but I’m hoping in the next couple weeks to find out. Right now I’m sure they are planning something for me for Boston but I’d like to do something before that and then fight again then. I’m getting right back into training [today] and will be plugging away the next couple of weeks until I hear a date,” Florian says.

(The face on the broad behind the cage pretty much says it all. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/shosports.)

Salary info has been released for Saturday's Strikeforce event, with headliner Cung Le taking home nearly a third of the $481,200 disclosed payroll. As you'll see, Strikeforce doesn't always follow the 100% win bonus structure that's become standard operating procedure in the UFC. One exception is Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, who doubled his $10,000 show-money with his victory over Mike Whitehead — but was reportedly fined 10% of his purse by the CSAC for spraying Rockstar Energy Drink all over the cage after his fight like a complete jackass. Hopefully Rockstar makes it up to Mo for the extra publicity he gave them. And now onto the numbers...

Scott Smith: $55,000 (no win bonus)
def. Cung Le: $150,000

Gilbert Melendez: $55,000 (no win bonus)
def. Josh Thomson: $30,000

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza: $65,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Matt Lindland: $50,000

(Werdum displays some riveting mic skills in this interview with Ariel Helwani.)

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told reporters at the post-fight press conference on Saturday night that Fedor Emelianenko’s next fight would most likely be against Fabricio Werdum on the April 2010 CBS show. As in, the same Werdum who recently won a lackluster decision over “Bigfoot” Silva, and got dropped from the UFC after getting dropped by a monster uppercut from Junior Dos Santos. In case you can’t tell, this isn’t the huge Fedor fight we were hoping Strikeforce would put together for their next CBS offering. With Alistair Overeem still MIA and a dearth of other heavyweights ready to step up to the big time, a guy on a two-fight win streak may really be the best they can do by April.

But if you thought it was tough to do a network TV promotional push with Brett Rogers doing all the work as the only fluent English-speaker in the main event, get ready for things to become even more difficult. Werdum doesn't exactly speak the King's English, and selling a fight between an inscrutable Russian and a fairly bland Brazilian to casual sports fans via a series of translators and facial expressions is no easy task. Maybe they can hype this thing through interpretive dance?

(King Mo accidentally gets some Rockstar in his mouth while attempting to lather the mat with it. Photo courtesy of Fight Magazine.)

Two competing MMA events on Saturday night made for a busy weekend of arbitrary numerical calculations for the Potato Index’s super computer. We didn’t even get to play our customary Sunday game of “Oregon Trail,” that’s how hectic things were. But the numbers are in from Strikeforce: Evolution and WEC 45, so let’s take a look at who’s up and who’s down after Saturday night.

Scott Smith +109
A technically brilliant performance it wasn’t. Smith was clearly overmatched, but he hung tough, wore Le down, and then put his power to good use. It might not have been the best performance of his career, but it’s one people will remember for a long, long time.

Cung Le -77
He can say his acting career had nothing to do with the loss, but something made him fade down the stretch. He got tired and he got lazy and then he got knocked out. It’s almost as if taking a fight between movie roles as a favor to your boss is a good way to get your nose smashed into a pulp.

(Props: StrikeforceFilms)

Discussing his quick-'n' easy win over Mike Whitehead at Strikeforce: Evolution on Saturday, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal stated the obvious — maybe Mike would have done better if he didn't come in so fat. Without speed on his side, Whitehead was a sitting duck for Mo's attacks. Though Lawal says he'll fight anybody Scott Coker puts in front of him, a king needs a crown, and his ultimate goals are to fight Strikeforce light-heavyweight champ Gegard Mousasi and #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko.

Hey, it's good to have ambition. Still, we can all agree that Mo needs to face some tougher competition before he starts prepping for title fights. One of the few names that come to mind is Renato "Babalu" Sobral, who previously held Strikeforce's light-heavyweight belt before Mousasi beat the fuck out of him. Strikeforce may want to give Lawal one more fight to develop him before making that matchup, but if you want to fast-track Mo to contendership, Babalu is probably the way to go. And with Coker's 205-pound class as thin as it is, there may not be any other options that make sense.

As expected, Lawal's royally pimpin' cage-entrance was almost as entertaining as his fight, though it was unfortunately left out of the Showtime broadcast. Check out some fan-shot video and pictures of King's "queens" after the jump...