(Thompson vs. Lashley. Come for the nut shots, stay for Phil Baroni’s childlike enthusiasm behind the mic. All praises be to IronForgesIron for the vids.)

You know, maybe it’s due to the fact that our expectations were so low, but other than a few hiccups along the way (one of which involved the most ridiculously over-the-top celebrations you will ever see), Super Fight League’s third event was actually a mildly entertaining affair. Who would’ve thought such a thing would be possible without the graceful presence of Bob Sapp? Although SFL’s production team still needs to get their shit together and stop cutting to random angles from halfway across the stadium, SFL 3 featured more than a fair share of exciting finishes, topped off by an at times groggy but overall solid main event clash between Bobby Lashley and James Thompson.

But before we get to the main event, lets talk about the very first fight of the night: a middleweight throwdown between Dream and Bellator veteran Zelg Galesic and former WEC light heavyweight champion Doug “The Rhino” Marshall, whose mere appearance on the card was enough to bring this “writer” back to the days of yore. Unfortunately for Marshall, the trip down memory lane was cut short by a beautiful flying knee that turned his lights off just 34 seconds into the fight. Nostalgia is a bitch, ain’t it?

That video, along with a video of the most insane post fight celebration in MMA history and more, awaits you after the jump.

(As with the Mona Lisa’s eyes, Thompson’s ear seems to just follow you around the room, doesn’t it?) 

Indian upstart promotion Super Fight League recently announced the pairing of James Thompson and former WWE star Bobby Lashley as the main event of its third card, which will also feature Trevor Prangley, Doug Marshall, and Zelg Galesic in action.

This is the point where we stop discussing the matchups at hand and get to the news you really need to know: Super Fight League is crashing and burning like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Josh Barnett couldn’t melt a plastic cup with his urine fast enough to destroy SFL, which is beginning to look like it will be but a distant memory by the end of the fiscal year. Despite the fact that viewership is free to anyone with a computer, internet access, and the ability to spell Youtube, SFL already seems to be on wobblier legs than River Phoenix outside The Viper Room (too soon?).

And it’s pretty clear why.

Heading into their first event, the India-based promotion showcased an emphasis on flare, throwing fancy promos and even their own theme song into the mix in an effort to spur interest in a sport that their country had yet to build the smallest of followings for. This was their first problem, a lack of awareness. Where Asian-based promotion OneFC has thrived thanks to both collaborative efforts with local promotions and a strong, preexisting fan base in the area they chose to promote within, Super Fight League’s co-chairmen, Raj Kundra and Sanjay Dutt, opted to rely on a combination of Bollywood celebrities and music industry execs to help promote a new sport that they themselves weren’t truly familiar with. In fact, many of the celebrities in attendance, and most of the 300,000 India-based Youtube viewers who managed to make the first card a slight success, where under the impression that MMA, and specifically SFL, consisted of over-the-top, WWE style antics and entertainment, largely due to how the promotion chose to well…promote themselves.

(“Ha ha ha. But seriously, though? OJ did that shit.”)

After going 2-0 last year following his upset loss to Chad Griggs in Strikeforce, Bobby Lashley is still moving forward with his cage-fighting career. In fact, the former WWE star is weighing some very attractive options right now. One possible scenario is a contract with Bellator, whose heavyweight division is desperate for some star power. And then there’s this (via FightersOnly):

Lashley also spoke about the possibility of a fight with the legendary Fedor Emelianenko. “The guy’s got a tremendous amount of fights under his belt… I’d like to fight him.”

According to Lashley, Fedor’s managers are currently looking for the Russian MMA veteran’s next opponent, and his name is on the list of potential matchups. “I’m going to throw everything at him that I can. Of course, my wrestling’s there, I don’t give a damn what he’s doing. I’d put my wrestling up there with almost anyone right now.”

(So close to validation, yet soooo far away…)

Former/possibly current professional wrestler Bobby Lashley returns to mixed martial arts action this November, taking on TUF 10 alum Darrill “The Boss” Schoonover for the Shark Fights Heavyweight title.

Since making his MMA debut in 2008, Lashley has put together a 6-1 record with notable wins over Bob Sapp, Jason Guida, and Wes Sims. Lashley’s hype train was derailed by Chad Griggs at Stikeforce: Houston however, where after a moderately successful first round, “The Dominator” gassed in the second and was unable to answer the third round bell. Lashley has since picked up a unanimous decision victory over journeyman John Ott at Titan Fighting Championships 17.

(Now if SF could just convince Batista to sign on the dotted line, the circle would be complete.)

It looks like Shark Fights has a new big draw.

According to a Fox Sports report, the Amarillo, Texas- based organization has signed former WWE champion Bobby Lashley to a three-year deal and he will likely make his promotional debut in November. The event, which will be aired on Fuel TV, will likely take place in Missouri where Lashley attended college.

“Yeah, guys? I don’t really feel like fighting that night, personally.”

Titan Fighting Championship returns to HDNet tomorrow night for TFC 19, with local favorite James Krause taking on 18-6 journeyman vet Clay French as the new headliner. Titan had planned to have Bobby Lashley vs Eddie Sanchez for the main event, but Lashley reportedly pulled out due to “personal problems”, and is now scheduled to return for Titan’s next show on August 26th. Funny thing is, Titan still hasn’t taken Lashley off the poster.

Krause, who made his debut under the Titan banner in 2007, is an exciting fighter popular with the local crowd, but has had difficulties when he steps up into the national scene. Krause dropped back to back fights against Donald Cerrone and Ricardo Lamas in the WEC, then fell victim to a Toby Imada armbar at Bellator 14. His opponent French has been around the game for a minute, carrying a loss to Shinya Aoki via flying triangle at PRIDE Bushido 13 in 2007 before Krause had even turned pro, so we guess those crazy flying subs do work. Sometimes.

The co-main event is a catchweight fight in the women’s division, featuring Tonya Evinger vs Sarah McMann at 140 pounds. Interesting note: Evinger’s last two losses, a pair of RNC submissions, came at the hands of Alexis Davis, a Canadian fighter making her Strikeforce debut Saturday night against Julie Kedzie. (What? We thought it was interesting.) Evinger will face Sarah McMann, an MMA n00b with just two fights. But hold the phone: McMann is also the first American woman to medal in Olympic wrestling, which makes this matchup an intriguing one. Evinger has a high school wrestling background herself, which is a relative oddity in the women’s division.

Check out the full card after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMACanadaTV)

- The end of Strikeforce? (SI)

-The Electric Dock Ellis Acid Test: An Attempt To Recreate His Drug-Addled No-Hitter, On Xbox (DeadSpin)

- Paulo Filho training for Satoshi Ishii (Tatame)

- ‘We’ are the champions: in defense of referring to your sports team in the first person (Clutch.MTV)

- 5 UFC fighters who could squash ‘The Spider’ (BleacherReport)

- Dana White talks UFC 133, Overeem and his meeting with Vince McMahon (MMAFighting)

- Calgary Commission finds no fault in ref who stopped Couture-Bird fight way too late (MMAJunkie)

- Comic-Con 2011: Spielberg says Jurassic Park 4 is underway (ScreenJunkies)

- MMA Agent Malki Kawa talks shop (CageWriter)

- The hottest chicks from comic book flicks (MadeMan)

- Overeem declares boxing superior to MMA (FiveKnuckles)

- Bobby Lashley out of next week’s Titan FC event (FiveOuncesofPain)

(Why doesn’t the UFC allow pre-fight staredowns?)

How did we not know Josh Barnett vs. Bobby Lashley was happening last night in Japan under the Inoki Genome Federation Banner? Thankfully SportsNavi had proof that the fight went down and that it was actually closer than we would have assumed it would be.

Barnett demonstrated some uncharacteristic stand-up skills by punishing Lashley’s legs with leg kicks before he was picked up the former UFC heavyweight champion and slammed to the canvas. But in the end it was the submission skills of the fighter formerly known as “The Babyfaced Assassin” that proved the difference. Barnett caught Lashley in an armbar and the former WWE champ was forced to tap out in the opening frame.

Oh, did we forget to mention that it was a pro wrestling bout? Our bad.

Check out the photos of the “fight” after the jump.

“This picture had to be taken within the opening seconds, he still has one of his hands up.”

Normally, when I watch regional promotions I have to do so with my laptop on mute. Otherwise, I get so agitated by the announcers trying to hype their minor league talent as “the best in the sport” that I can’t enjoy myself. So when Titan FC 17 kicked off this ridiculously busy weekend for MMA last night in Kansas City, I can’t help but feel that the biggest winners of the evening were Frank Trigg and Michael Schiavello. While lesser announcers would hype Phil Baroni like he’s still in his prime and talk about Bobby Lashley slamming a natural middleweight like he’s ready for Cain Velasquez, Schiavello and Trigg were brutally honest critiquing the action. That’s got to be worth something, right?

It’s certainly worth more than the effort Bobby Lashley put in against James Jack John Ott. Last night was Bobby Lashley’s first chance to silence his critics after a humbling loss to Chad Griggs. John Ott, asdie from being a middleweight stepping in as a late replacement, is also a wrestler with sub-par striking. If I didn’t know that you all come to Cage Potato for responsible journalism, I’d recklessly hypothesize that John Ott was brought in to lose in dramatic fashion. Naturally, Bobby Lashley capitolized on this opportunity by putting in just enough effort to grind out a unanimous decision.

(“…so you see, my client couldn’t have *possibly* committed these murders.” Hey that’s two OJ jokes in the same day! Good times! / Lots more photos and videos from the Titan weigh-ins at BJJinMMA.com)

Seven months after his unexpected loss to Chad Griggs at Strikeforce: Houston, WWE-star-turned-MMA-fighter Bobby Lashley will return to action tonight in the main event of Titan Fighting Championships 17 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. Though Lashley was originally supposed to face off against James Jack, Jack mysteriously went M.I.A. and has been replaced with an equally-obscure fighter named John Ott, an 8-7 journeyman who has primarily competed at middleweight and light-heavyweight. Yesterday, Ott weighed in at 215.4 pounds for the heavyweight contest, against Lashley’s 252.4. It is what it is.

Also on the card, Phil Baroni will look to break a three-fight losing streak against the comparatively unseasoned Nick Nolte, while Abe “Sylvia Killer” Wagner clashes with Strikeforce/Bellator vet Aaron Rosa. The event will be broadcast tonight on HDNet starting at 10 p.m., following “The Voice vs. Wanderlei Silva” at 8 p.m. and Inside MMA at 9. Here’s the Titan FC 17 televised lineup, according to their Facebook page:

(UFC 3′s Emmanuel Yarborough and Miley Cyrus: They may seem like a strange pairing at first, but then you spend some time with them together and you’re like “okay, I totally get it now.”)

By Matthew “The Fight Nerd” Kaplowitz

Japan has brought us so many great imports, be it giant robots, cartoons about ninja children dressed in bright colors (which sort of defeats the purpose of being a stealthy ninja), tentacle rape, and Pocky. Truly, their greatest offering to America has been the freak show fight. As we discussed last time, Japan was the country that legitimized the art of pitting two mismatched opponents in a ring and convincing us that this was the greatest thing since Steven Seagal invented the front kick.

If there’s one thing we Americans don’t like, it’s being shown up by a foreign land. So it was just a matter of time before an American promoter stood up and said, “You know what? I want to see a man that weighs a quarter of a ton fight a dwarf!” And that was how our first freak show fight was born. Well, not really, since we have better athletic commissions in America, but after reading this list of the “Top Ten American Freak Show Fights That Were Actually Good,” you might think otherwise. Let’s get it on!

10. Tim Sylvia vs. Wes Sims
Superbrawl 38, 12/12/04


In a rare battle between two giants, 6’ 8” Tim Sylvia stood almost eye to eye with Wes Sims, who had a two-inch height advantage over “The Maine-iac”.  Sylvia had fought another tall man, Gan McGee, the previous year at UFC 44, but this fight is far more entertaining. You would probably expect an evenly contested bout between these two, due to the height and their similarly aggressive tactics (both guys even used the same song for their entrance, go figure). For some reason that will never be known, Sims decided that he was the smaller man in this fight and would fight accordingly.

(In an alternate universe, Lashley gets the TKO against Chad Griggs, enters the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament, and defeats Fedor Emelianenko by flying armbar in the quarterfinals. Shane Del Rosario still goes on to win the whole thing. / Photo courtesy of Showtime)

We haven’t heard much from Bobby Lashley since he quit on the stool against Chad Griggs at Strikeforce: Houston last August. But a press release sent out this morning by Kansas City-based promotion Titan Fighting Championships has answered an important question — Bobby’s days of real fighting aren’t quite over yet.

Now 5-1 in MMA, Lashley will return to action in the headlining bout of Titan FC 17, which will go down March 25th at the Historic Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. His opponent will be James Jack, a heavyweight out of Missouri who’s either 6-2-1 or 5-4-1, depending on who you ask. In the press release, Titan Fighting CEO Joe Kelly did his best to explain why you should care:

(Oh yeah. The person who made this wallpaper just *gets it*.)

After months of negotiations between Strikeforce and Fedor Emelianenko‘s useless management company, the Last Emperor may finally have a return date. According to MMA Weekly, Emelianenko will face fellow heavyweight contender Antonio Silva at a yet-unannounced January 29th Strikeforce event. It will be Emelianenko’s first fight since his shocking submission loss to Fabricio Werdum in June. Silva also dropped a fight to Werdum last November, but has posted wins over Andrei Arlovski and Mike Kyle since then. Emelianeko is already 1-0 against fighters with acromegaly.

The January 29th event is expected to take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, and will allegedly feature the return of Herschel Walker, and — get this — the third meeting between Jason Miller and Tim Kennedy, now that the trash talk between Miller and Nick Diaz has officially reached a stalemate, with neither fighter willing to leave their weight class.

But enough about non-freak-show fights. Let’s get to the good stuff…

(We’ll always remember the good times we shared. PicProps: Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

Wrestling-and-MMA news guru Dave Meltzer reports this week that wrestling-and-MMA pariah Bobby Lashley is currently mired in contract limbo with Strikeforce. If you want to read Meltzer’s full report, we insist you sign up for a subscription (c’mon, Meltzer seems like a good guy), although the gist is this: Lashley’s contract with Strikeforce has reportedly “expired,” but it still requires a period of “exclusive negotiation” with Scott Coker and his crew. That means the former WWE champ can’t talk directly with any other MMA promotions right now and even after that particular contract stipulation lapses, Strikeforce will have the option of matching offers from other organizations.

However, Lashley’s contract doesn’t prohibit him from negotiating with professional wrestling companies, so if he were inclined to segue back into a world where baby-oiled-fake-bakers routinely slice their own faces open with razorblades, the iron is about as hot as it’s gonna get. In fact, things don’t get really interesting until you read what both Meltzer and SBNation are saying about Lashley’s relationship with Strikeforce right now …

(How did Bobby Lashley go from wrestling at a svelte 177-pounds in college to owning a Herculean physique and a head big enough to have its own zip code? Certain events, playa. PicProps: Heavy.com)

So, it was either the lingering effects of mononucleosis, that pesky bout of dehydration (possibly owing to the mononucleosis) or pressure from the haters that caused Bobby Lashley to shit the bed against Chad Griggs at Strikeforce: Houston last month. So said Lashley during an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s "The MMA Hour" yesterday. We’d be able to pin it down further for you, but reports make it seem like the WWE-wrestler-turned-MMA-heavyweight was still being kind of vague about the whole thing.

(Props: YouTube.com/MaplePictures)

We’ve been waiting patiently since last winter, and the moment is finally upon us: Beatdown, starring Rudy Youngblood, master thespian Michael Bisping, Bobby Lashley, Heath Herring, Mike Swick, Eric Balfour, and Danny Trejo, will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray tomorrow. Check the synopsis:

Brandon, a respected street fighter, is forced to flee the city after his brother is murdered and the money that was supposed to be paid back to a local gangster is stolen. While lying low at his father’s house in a small Southern town, Brandon soon gets involved in the local underground cage-fighting circuit. With the help of Drake Colby, a former MMA champion, Brandon devises a scheme to bring a massive payday, if they are able to survive.

We have eight copies of the flick to give away, in two separate caption contests. If you want one, check out the gnarly UFC 118-related pic after the jump and follow our instructions…

(Nick Thompson is stretchered to safety after getting smoked by Taisuke Okuno at Sengoku 14. Check out FIGHT! Magazine‘s exclusive gallery of photos from the event right here.)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– BJ Penn Hopes James Toney Does Well Against Randy Couture (MMA Convert)

– Facing your "Mirs": Where do Lashley and King Mo go from here? (Watch Kalib Run)

– 5 Things To Watch For At UFC 118 (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua’s Return Delayed Until Mid-2011 (Versus MMA Beat)

– Why Nick Diaz vs. ‘Mayhem’ Miller Is the Fight Strikeforce Needs Now (MMA Fighting)

– Exclusive Interview With Bellator Middleweight Tournament Winner Alexander "Storm" Shlemenko (LowKick)

– Outstanding Wrestlers and the Lessons Learned (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Kickboxing Legend Andy Hug, R.I.P. (MMA Scraps)

– This Rampage vs. Machida trailer will be the greatest thing you will see today, guaranteed (MiddleEasy)

(King Mo was skeptical about looking into the strange man’s pinhole projector, but eventually his curiosity about seeing a total eclipse of the sun got the better of him. PicProps: Strikeforce)

Aside from the hapless Jorge Gurgel – who has lived in the States so long his nationality could most accurately be listed as “Ohioan,” anyway – Saturday night’s Strikeforce: Houston card couldn’t have gone much better for the promotion’s Brazilian contingent. From Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante stopping Muhammed Lawal to claim the light heavyweight title in the main event to  Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza winning the 185-pound strap after a fight with Tim Kennedy that wasn’t really as close as a lot of people are trying to allege, Brazil pretty much owned everybody’s asses last night.  Again.

In unrelated news, Bobby Lashley lost to some guy whose sideburns made him look like he should be playing trombone in a third-wave ska band. All of our deepest fears and darkest suspicions about the former pro-wrestler’s heart and MMA skills were confirmed. Goddamn it felt good.

Somewhere, whatever notes Scott Coker had scribbled on the back of a Motel 6 brochure about the future of his company probably got crumpled up and tossed in a trash can.

(Focused and ready for battle, King Mo stares into his opponent’s eyes, desperately trying to remember who the hell this dude is. Photo courtesy of allelbows.com)

Two title fights in the light-heavyweight and middleweight divisions, a lightweight slugfest between KJ Noons and Jorge Gurgel, and Bobby Lashley‘s latest bit of record-padding, all brought to you by the world-famous City of Syrup. Let’s be real — if you’re not watching Strikeforce tonight, you’re a damn fool. Or, you don’t have Showtime. Or, you have better things to do. Speaking of which, your usual live-bloggers are occupied tonight, so respected CagePotato contributor Matt Kaplan will be filling in. Round-by-round updates can be found after the jump, beginning at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page for all the latest, and let your voices be heard in the comments section. 
 

("Actually, Bobby is the one who’s adopted. Long story." Photo courtesy of allelbows.)

Clear your schedules, Potato Nation. CagePotato.com will be liveblogging tomorrow night’s Showtime broadcast of Strikeforce: Houston starting at 10 p.m. ET, so be sure to stop by. The fighters just stepped on the scales at the Toyota Center, and 86% of them were able to successfully hit their marks. Pretty impressive, guys! The numbers are below:

Main Card
Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal (203.75) vs. Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante (203.5)
Tim Kennedy (185) vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (184.75)
K.J. Noons (156.25)* vs. Jorge Gurgel (154.75)
Bobby Lashley (246.5) vs. Chad Griggs (228.5)

Preliminary Card
Daniel Cormier (249) vs. Jason Riley (256.5)
Andre Galvao (170.75) vs. Jorge Patino ()**
Vinicius "Draculino" Magalhães (144.5) vs. Rocky Long (146.25)
Kier Gooch (155.5) vs. Adam Schindler (155.5)
Jose Santibanez (154.25) vs. Reynaldo Trujillo (155.25)
Humberto DeLeon (127.25) vs. Chad Robichaux (131)***
Chad Cook (205.25) vs. Arteneus Young (204)

* Gurgel allowed Noons the extra quarter-pound; Noons will not have to shed the additional weight.
** Wasn’t present at the weigh-ins; will weigh-in later this evening.
*** Was given an extra hour to lose one pound for the 130-pound catchweight bout.

Unrelated: You have the rest of the weekend to get in your final submissions for our ongoing desktop wallpaper contest with Throwdown. The entries have been awesome so far — but we want MORE! So get hustlin’ for your chance to win that $250 gear package.

(That’s Chad. Take a look at those belts, tough guy. You think anybody wants a roundhouse kick to the face while he’s wearing these bad boys? Didn’t think so. Props: myspace.com/chadgriggs) 

Bobby Lashley (5-0) has long made it clear that he’ll only take fights against two kinds of opponents — champions, and random scrubs. Competing against the kind of mid-level competition that would actually gain him some cred in the MMA world? Forget it, he’s just not interested. And even though the former WWE star would make a minor exception by fighting Fedor Emelianenko — who’s not a champion but, y’know, still pretty high up there — Strikeforce is going to set him up with another low-value opponent for his next fight. No, it’s not Dave Batista…at least not yet.

MMA Mania reports that Lashley will return to the cage at "Strikeforce: Houston" (August 21st), where he’ll take on Chad "The Grave Digger" Griggs (8-1), a Tucson-based heavyweight whose most notable experience came during a 1-1 stint in the IFL back in 2007. Griggs is employed as a firefighter/paramedic, so his nickname isn’t a reflection of his line of work; more likely, it’s a tribute to his love of monster trucks. All of Griggs’s eight wins were earned via stoppage, six of which came in the first round, all against guys you’ve probably never heard of.

It will be Lashley’s first cage appearance sinch his first-round TKO over Wes "The Body" Sims at Strikeforce: Miami.

(For those of you wondering, now we know what happened to Color Me Badd)

Strikeforce held a press conference yesterday at the Toyota Center in advance of its August 21 event that will take place at the venue in Houston, Texas. Ben and I were both unable to attend since, well,  neither of us wanted to, but thankfully KBME Sports Talk 790 was on hand to catch what we may have missed.

The videos are after the jump.

(Video courtesy HDNet)

Well, it looks like Strikeforce may finally officially jump the shark if Bobby Lashley gets his way.

The former WWE star will make a guest appearance on Inside MMA as part of Ron Kruck’s "Kruck’s Corner" segment to talk about his desire to fight Fedor Emelianenko in his next bout and explain that he feels that promoters are responsible for his lack of quality opponents he has been matched up with thus far in his young 5-0 MMA career.

(By the way, KJ Noons isn’t on this card either. But at least we still have "an MMA superstar" [not really] against "a legend at his craft" [of choking people for too long].)
 
Just when they convinced Bobby Lashley to face an opponent who wasn’t a total joke or a champion, the unthinkable has happened — the former pro-wrestling star has been forced to pull out of his scheduled match against Ron Sparks due to a knee injury. The fight was to take place at Strikeforce’s increasingly bare-looking Los Angeles show (Wednesday, June 16th, Nokia Theatre), which is headlined by Robbie Lawler vs. Renato Sobral in a 195-pound catchweight bout, and will also feature Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos vs. Marius Zaromskis, Tim Kennedy vs. Trevor Prangley, and (possibly) Shane Del Rosario vs. Lolohea Mahe.

In other words, the card is just slightly more impressive than Strikeforce’s "Challengers" series offerings, and won’t do much to improve their plummeting ratings on Showtime. Luckily, Strikeforce has its next show ten days later with Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum in the headlining spot and Cris Cyborg in the co-main; a relatively needless rematch between Cung Le and Scott Smith is also likely.

(Negotiations seemed to be going fine, until Lashley abruptly announced he wasn’t ready to face the champ.)

… and it’s Ron Sparks. The two undefeated heavyweight prospects have verbally agreed to fight on the undercard of Strikeforce’s planned June 16 show, which will feature Robbie Lawler vs. Babalu Sobral as its main event.

Given that Sparks is 5-0 in MMA, isn’t a totally unskilled freak show, a fat light heavyweight or formerly homeless, it looks like a small step in the right direction for Lashley. However, considering that Sparks is basically a kickboxer (albeit a giant one at 6-5, 285) and hasn’t fought anybody of note in his MMA career, the cynics among us will argue that he’s another opponent tailor-made for defeat at the hands of the two-time NAIA national wrestling champion and former Olympic hopeful. From what we already know about him, that probably suits Bobby Lashley just fine.

(Tim Stout vs. Brandon Melendez, 5/16/08.) 

As first reported by MMA Junkie, a fight between colorful MTV host/middleweight contender Jason "Mayhem" Miller and some guy named Tim Stout (12-8) has been added to the preliminary card of Strikeforce: Nashville on April 17th. Stout, who has primarily competed as a welterweight in various southern regional promotions, is a Tennessee native who trains with Team Oxendine in Johnson City. He last competed in February, scoring a unanimous decision over Phillip Wyman at a Bangkok Fight Night event in Georgia, and his most notable victory was a first-round TKO over TUF 5 vet Brandon Melendez in May 2008.

You may be asking yourself how the hell one of Strikeforce’s biggest stars finds himself fighting a virtually-unknown 170-pounder on the dark portion of a CBS card on less than two weeks’ notice. Good question. Here’s what happened…

(Honestly, which would you rather watch: Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin, or the stunning conclusion to this red-hot war of words? Video courtesy of MiddleEasy.)

Our condolences to anybody who was looking forward to a hastily thrown-together UFC card featuring a couple of old-timers and whoever else was available at the time. A Spike TV source has told MMAFighting.com that the UFC’s rumored Strikeforce counter-programming show on April 17th is no longer happening. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, considering that no fights had been made official a month away from the date. (The UFC doesn’t seem to share the same "whatever happens happens" attitude as the Japanese when it comes to fight-booking.) And so, Strikeforce wins this particular standoff, and will instead be going heads-up against one of the UFC’s recent pay-per-views. Considering how those PPVs have been doing lately, that’s good news for Scott Coker.

Speaking of Strikeforce: Nashville, MMA Junkie reports that Bobby Lashley (5-0) is slated to appear on the card against an opponent to be named later; if there’s any justice in the world, Wes Sims will get the rematch that we all know he deserves. Lashley’s fight is expected to be part of the event’s preliminary card, but will be shown on the CBS broadcast unless all three title fights go long.

Bobby Lashley was in studio with the guys from "Inside MMA" recently, and wouldn’t you know it, they just happened to have the results of an online poll question about who Lashley should fight next.  Fans agree that Brett Rogers would make the most interesting next opponent, but Lashley isn’t even trying to pretend that he wants that fight.  In the twisted caverns of his mind, it makes no sense to fight any somewhat credible opponent unless it’s the champ.

"Either let me fight the way I want to, build up and get a few fights under my belt and then work my way up there, or let me fight the champ."

All due respect here Bobby, but that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

("Cyborg" Santos proves that a female fighter can stop a punch just as good as a male one, and for less money too. Photo courtesy of Fight Magazine.)

While the rest of the nation might be slowly inching toward gender equality in the workplace, in MMA a woman still does a man’s job for pennies on the dollar. At least, that’s the situation for women not named Gina Carano, which is to say it’s the situation for all the women actively pursuing an MMA career at the moment. This, among other lessons, becomes clear once we take a good hard look at the official payouts from Saturday night’s Strikeforce event.

Nick Diaz: $100,000 (no win bonus)
def. Marius Zaromskis: $30,000

Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos: $35,000 ($15,000 win bonus and $5,000 "championship" bonus)
def. Marloes Coenen: $2,000

Herschel Walker: $600 (no win bonus)
def. Greg Nagy: $5,000

(Talk that shit now, "Nurse Jackie."  Photo courtesy of AllElbows.com)

Strikeforce: Miami drew 517,000 viewers on Showtime this past Saturday night, proving that there are some benefits to putting well-known but largely untested fighters in against outmatched opponents. The numbers may not have been quite as good as the 576,000 viewers who tuned in to see Gina Carano and “Cyborg” Santos go at it back in August, but it was still a marked improvement from the 341,000 that watched the last Strikeforce offering on Showtime in December.

So what made the big difference this time? Was it Herschel Walker’s appeal to the common sports fan? Bobby Lashley’s drawing power among pro wrestling fanboys? The mere presence of Wes Sims, one of MMA’s tallest fighters? There’s no way to know for sure, but we’re going to go ahead and speculate that it was some combination of all three, plus all the people who have sold Nick Diaz weed at some point in the past.

The one somber note to all this is that once again the replay of a UFC event – this time UFC 107 – beat Strikeforce in terms of sheer numbers. Spike TV pulled in 2.2 million viewers with B.J. Penn and Diego Sanchez, though of course they did have the advantage of being available in roughly eight times as many homes. Still, over half-a-million people on a premium cable network in lean economic times is nothing to be ashamed of.  Now if they could only work in some kind of vampire-related storyline they might really draw huge audiences.  Your time to shine, Stephen Quadros.