(Video courtesy of YouTube/cardosopro)

If you’ve never seen the video above, it’s like the double rainbow in that it’s possibly the only time you’ll ever see Cris “Cyborg” lose and also the only instance, at least in our vast memory, of an MMA bout being won by double-kneebar.

The fighter Cyborg lost to, Erica Paes — a world BJJ champion who trained alongside the likes of the Nogueira brothers, Ricardo Arona and Murilo Bustamate at Brazilian Top Team at the time — got knocked out in her next bout and retired with an official 1-1 pro record.

Although she hasn’t fought since and has since traded in her MMA gloves for a microphone and a guitar, the aspiring Brazilian singer recalls the 2005 win vividly as it happened in the midst of the famous Chuteboxe-BTT rivalry.

“I never worry about how strong my opponent is. When I saw Cyborg, who was enormous, I thought, ‘I do not care. I train with Minotauro Nogueira.’ It was wonderful,” she recalls. “We do the move a lot in training. I got within range, took her to the ground, made a mistake, and she got up. She did what I love, came up to kick me, then I grabbed her legs so I could apply a leg lock and finished with the double-kneebar.”

(I bet even those scientists from the future who put me together couldn’t have predicted that old #643227 would become a future champion!) 

Success is a double edged sword. On one hand, it brings fame, fortune, and an immeasurable sense of self confidence, one that can only be gained by the awareness that you are truly the best at what you do. On the other, it brings crushing, tireless scrutiny from everyone around you, including those who helped build you up in the first place. And it is when you allow those naysayers to affect your daily routine, your mental state, or, in Christiane “Cyborg” Santos‘ case, your training regimen, that you have begun the inevitable fall from grace that follows.

Ever since her introduction to the public MMA circuit, Santos was looked at as a fighter who was simply on another level than that of her female counterparts. Her strength, striking ability, and general physique was shocking to even the most devoted MMA fans, and after she handled Gina Carano to take the Strikeforce women’s featherweight title, we knew she would be there for a long, long time.

And as with any case of athletic dominance, steroid accusations were immediately lobbed at the champ. Though there was little evidence to suggest any truth to these claims, pundits and keyboard warriors alike ruthlessly pursued them nonetheless. And as it turns out, behind the rumor was a fair bit of truth.

Bad news for…well, everybody, really. The California State Athletic Commission put out a press release earlier today announcing that Strikeforce featherwight champion Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos — the most dominant female fighter in the history of the sport — has tested positive for an anabolic steroid. As a result, her license has been suspended, and the result of her last win over Hiroko Yamanaka on December 17th will be changed to a no-contest. Here’s the full release via BloodyElbow:

CALIFORNIA STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION SUSPENDS LICENSE OF FIGHTER CRISTIANE JUSTINO SANTOS – a.k.a. CRIS CYBORG

Mixed Martial Arts fighter tested positive for anabolic steroid in December 16, 2011 test

The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) has suspended the license of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Cristiane Justino Santos, better known in MMA circles as Cris Cyborg, and has fined her $2,500 as the result of a positive test for a banned substance.

Santos’ December 16, 2011 drug test came back positive for stanozolol metabolites. CSAC learned of the test results December 23, 2011 and suspended Santos’s license, with the suspension applied retroactively to December 16, 2011. In accordance with Rule 368, the result of her last fight between Hiroko Yamanaka will be changed to a “No Decision”.

“Our primary concern is for the health and safety of fighters,” said CSAC Executive Officer George Dodd. “Anabolic agents and other banned substances put not only the users of those agents at risk, but their opponents as well. The commission simply will not tolerate their use.”

It was the only stoppage from last night’s Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal card, and it was a nasty one. With no 145-pound contenders in sight, Cris Cyborg plans to shed some muscle and dominate at bantamweight in the future.

(Oh man. This is not going to end well. / Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com. For more photos from this set, click here.)

Can you believe it’s been over three months since Strikeforce put on a legit non-Challengers card? The promotion finally gets back to business tonight with two title fights — Gilbert Melendez vs. Jorge Masvidal in the lightweight division and Cris Cyborg vs. Hiroko Yamanaka at women’s featherweight — plus a light-heavyweight bout between Gegard Mousasi and Ovince St. Preux that could produce a contender to the vacant belt.

Round-by-round results from the “Melendez vs. Masvidal” main card broadcast on Showtime will be collecting after the jump beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET, courtesy of CagePotato liveblog rookie Steve Silverman; please do your best to make him feel welcome. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

(Props: YouTube.com/Strikeforce)

Reminder — Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal goes down tomorrow night in San Diego, and we’ll be liveblogging the Showtime broadcast beginning at 10 p.m. ET. Strikeforce recently released this promo video focusing exclusively on the lightweight title competitors and Cris Cyborg; Gegard Mousasi and Ovince St. Preux are nowhere to be seen, and the only glimpses we get of KJ Noons and Billy Evangelista are brief clips of them getting beat up by Jorge Masvidal. Still, this could be a surprisingly entertaining card for those who actually care enough to watch it. Either way, that clip of El Nino ruining Kawajiri’s life with elbows never gets old.

After the jump: Jorge Masvidal gets interviewed by three hot Spanish chicks, nearly slaps the crap out of one.

(“Dun, dun, dun, dun, da-dun, dun, da-dun. Dah, dah, dah, dun, da-dun, dun, da-dun…“)

Props to MMAMania for directing us to the current betting lines for this Saturday‘s Strikeforce women’s featherweight title fight between Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos and mysterious ex-dominatrix Hiroko Yamanaka. As of now, the champ is a -900 favorite, meaning that you’d have to bet $900 to collect a $100 profit if she wins. Yamanaka is a +550 underdog, meaning that a $100 bet would return a $550 profit if hell freezes over the challenger takes the belt.

Here’s why you might bet money on Yamanaka to score an upset: Cyborg hasn’t competed since June 2010; Yamanaka has gone 3-0 since then, with all wins by stoppage. Yamanaka might be able to keep Cyborg at bay with her height and range. Crazy shit happens in this sport all the time.

Here’s why you shouldn’t actually consider doing this: Literally every other reason you could possibly think of, including Cyborg’s unparalleled aggression, her history of consuming Japanese opponents, her home field advantage in the U.S., and most importantly, that it sucks to lose even small amounts of money in this economy.

If you have to bet on something this weekend, fill out this helpful questionnaire, then continue reading for a few wagering suggestions that are almost as risky, but not completely insane.

(And here we have Ronda Rousey dumping Karo Parisyan on his head. Props: DantheWolfman)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…

- The Great ‘Must Retire’ List of 2011 (MMA Convert)

- Bellator’s 10 Best Fights of 2011 (The Fight Nerd)

- Photo Gallery: Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos Training for Hiroko Yamanaka (Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com)

- The 25 Most Outrageous MMA-Related Videos on YouTube (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Spike TV to Counter-Program ‘UFC on FOX 2′ With ‘UFC Unleashed: Evans vs. Davis’ (MMA Payout)

- Arianny Celeste: Chael Sonnen Is Very Polite To Me Backstage (FightLine)

- Keith Kizer: Urine Is ‘Obviously’ Better Than Blood for Steroid Testing (Fight Opinion)

- Dana White Sees Jon Jones as #2 Pound-for-Pound Fighter in the World (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Joseph Benavidez Inspired to Become a Great Champion in New UFC Flyweight Division (MMA Mania)

- Demian Maia: I Know I Can Submit Michael Bisping (MMAFighting)

- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Avoids Surgery on Broken Arm (5th Round)

- Can Someone Please Help Felice Herrig With Her Wardrobe Malfunction? (MiddleEasy)

(Cyborg at 135 will be a scary woman, especially to other 135-pound women)

In an interview she did this week with TATAME, Strikeforce featherweight champ Cristiane Santos revealed a bit of insight into the plans the promotion has for its women’s division.

According to “Cyborg,” the Zuffa-owned organization has asked her to drop down to 135 following her December 17 title defense against Hiroko Yamanaka as they are looking to do away with the 145-pound class since they can’t find anyone to face her. On the bright side, Santos says she’s lucky that Strikeforce is accommodating the women on its roster considering UFC president Dana White’s thoughts on female MMA.

“I signed the contract for these four fights after UFC purchased Strikeforce, so I guess they’ll keep us, they’ll keep the female divisions and female MMA keeps growing and growing, and I guess they’re keeping the girls and it depends on what we do to call UFC’s attention,” Santos explains. “[As of right now there] are still two weight divisions: 135lbs and 145lbs.”

(Gina during her Madonna phase. Pic props: BullettMagazine)

Gina Carano did an interview recently with Bullett Magazine in which the former face of women’s MMA who is set to make her big screen debut when “Haywire” is released in January made an interesting analogy comparing her opponents to past lovers.

“When you fight someone, you share the experience with that one person, and you’re never going to have that experience with someone else—even in another fight. I always have this weird connection with them. It really is like we had sex. I’ll always know how many people I fought.”

Does that mean she doesn’t know how many dudes who have rear-naked-choked her or are we reading too much into the quote?

(Serious question: How much would you pay this woman to kick you in the balls? / Photo via Sherdog)

A month after re-signing with Strikeforce, Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos finally has her next opponent. As announced during Friday’s Strikeforce Challengers 19 broadcast, Santos will defend her 145-pound title at the “Melendez vs. Masvidal” event on December 17th, against Jewels/Smackgirl standout Hiroko Yamanaka (12-1). Here’s an amazing bit of biographical information from Yamanaka’s wikipedia page:

“Before entering into MMA, Yamanaka was a dominatrix and worked in a SM club for four and a half years. She used the name Chiaki in catfights when she was working there. She didn’t have sports experience and started to train in MMA because she thought that it would help her in providing a better service to her clients.”

Me-ow! Now riding an eight-fight win streak, Yamanaka was the final Smackgirl Open Weight Champion, and is ranked #2 on MMARising’s 145-pound women’s list. Watch her in action after the jump…

(“Hey, remember when I punched you in the face? That was awesome.” Photo courtesy of Esther/Strikeforce)

Inactive for 14 months (and counting), Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos confirmed via Twitter last night that she has finally re-signed with Strikeforce. The 145-pound women’s champ officially became a free-agent in June, when her champion’s clause expired before she and Strikeforce could come to terms on a new deal. Though she had been negotiating with other organizations — and was even courted by the WWE — Santos is back where she belongs, and will face Opponent TBA at Event TBA.

Of course, Cyborg’s original problem still remains — that there are no credible challengers ready to fight her. I have a bad feeling that Ronda Rousey is about to get a life-changing phone call very soon.

(Surprised they didn’t call this one “Beauty and the Beast.”)

On this day in MMA history two years ago Strikeforce held it’s first event headlined by a women’s championship fight. Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, which featured a bout between Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos for the inaugural Strikeforce Women’s middleweight (145 pound) championship, took place on Saturday, August 15, 2009 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

(Unlike the rest of us, the eye candy in the back decided to open her eyes for Cyborg.)

By Jason Moles

While suffering through The Change-Up this weekend, I started thinking about the hypothetical situation of MMA fighters switching bodies. Obviously, one fighter would get the short end of the stick, like in all relationships, but other than that, it’s all good news from there. Imagine the man with a warrior spirit and broken body upgrading for a newer model. Imagine the heavy-duty gas-guzzler being replaced by a tiny, eco-friendly, electric car. Imagine experience and youth joining forces to reign terror on anything that steps in its way. So who most deserves a cinematic body-swap? Read on and find out…

BJ Penn and Brock Lesnar

Advantage: Baby Jay

For years, Penn has been criticized for his lack of self-discipline and willingness to stay in shape. Switching bodies would solve that problem and create what might be the best heavyweight in UFC history. A Nova Uniao Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with explosive striking and a granite chin, Penn has everything that Lesnar wishes he had. The Prodigy would be a wrecking ball at heavyweight if he had Brock’s body — as long as the viking took the diverticulitis thing with him. If he had to keep the illness during the switch, then I guess we could all agree that we’d like to see Josh Koscheck trade bodies with Brock.

If you watch MMA long enough, every fight, knockout, and submission begins to look familiar — which makes these classic bouts that much more special.

Wanderlei Silva Wins Via Choke
vs. Bob Schrijber @ Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round, 1/30/00

Though he has two other submission victories on his record due to strikes, Wanderlei Silva has only ended one fight in his 15-year career with a legit, bonafide submission hold. It went down during his third PRIDE appearance against renowned kickboxer Bob Schrijber, in a reserve bout for the 2000 PRIDE GP. After some standup brawling, Wandy secures a takedown, immediately lands in mount, and slugs “Dirty Bob” until the Dutchman is forced to roll. From there, Silva sets up a rear-naked choke — you can tell that grappling’s not really his strong-suit — and eventually gets the tap.

Tito Ortiz Fights Outside of the UFC
vs. Jeremy Screeton @ West Coast NHB Championships 1, 12/8/98

After going 1-1 in his Octagon debut at UFC 13, Tito Ortiz took a tune-up fight at an NHB tournament in Los Angeles. The result was a fast, gnarly, PRIDE-style victory for the future superstar. Screeton shoots in on Ortiz, but the Huntington Beach Bad Boy uses his own formidable wrestling skills to reverse his opponent onto the mat. Two brutal knees to the head later, and Screeton was tapping out the morse code to “get me the fuck out of here.” Ortiz was invited back to the UFC the following month, and has never left. Seriously, we can’t get rid of this guy.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/GinaCaranodotorg)

Last Friday at Comic-Con Gina Carano made a rare media appearance to promote her upcoming starring role in the Steven Soderbergh blockbuster film “Haywire,” which is set to be released in theatres in January 2012.

The interview above with GinaCarano.org was apparently her first since losing to Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos in 2009.

Check out the full transcription after the jump.

(Video courtesy of Ebaumsworld.)

We often joke about female fighters like Cris Cyborg testing her mettle against men in her weight class, but the chances of it ever happening are slim to none.

That is, unless you live in Brazil, where apparently gender bias doesn’t get in the way of a good scrap.

(Apparently soccer-kicks are now illegal in soccer? It’s a crazy world…)

The 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup draws to a close on Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany, as the United States meets Japan in the finals. (Kickoff is at 2:45 p.m. ET on ESPN, by the way.) This marks the first time since 1999 that Americans have been psyched about women’s soccer — but we admit, we’re getting caught up in the hype as well.

In honor of our ladies getting ready to run shop on the Japanese, we decided to hold our own international competition, choosing the best female MMA fighter from 10 different countries and ranking them against each other. The first few names will be very familiar — but who’s carrying the flag for Russia, South Korea, and Germany? Read on and find out…

#1. Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos (Brazil)

Record: 10-1
Last fight: Third-round TKO of Jan Finney, 6/26/10
Santos’s inability to find a fight over the last year says a lot about the still-developing state of women’s MMA in this country, as well as her own undisputed position in the 145-pound division. She’s so far ahead of her peers, that no logical challengers even exist.

(Simple solution: Have Cris arm-wrestle Dana for her desired contract)

In spite of a report released yesterday that quoted Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos’ longtime Chuteboxe trainer Master Rudimar Fedrigo as saying that the Strikeforce Women’s Middleweight champion has re-upped with the now Zuffa-owned promotion, a source with knowledge of the situation informed CagePotato.com today that there is in fact no deal in place at this time.

Toughest fight for Crisitane Cyborg so far? Contract negotiations.

Many, many, many moons ago, movie makers were looking to make a sequel to the live action Masters of the Universe movie starring Dolph Lundgren, and film it in North Carolina. Auditions were held for childrens’ roles in Wilmington, and i was one of many (i assume) kids who tried out to be in a movie with He-Man. Alas, the film company had some financial difficulties and the project was scrapped; i never got another chance to be Macaulay Culkin before Macaulay Culkin. The film company had already spent something like 2 milllion dollars producing costumes and sets for the movie, and wanted to re-purpose them to recoup some of the cash they’d put up, so they banged out a script about a dystopian future of plague and anarchy, hired Jean-Claude Van Damme, and that’s how the movie Cyborg came about. All that is 100% true, by the way.

I tell you that because i have no idea how Cristiane Justino Venancio Santos came into existence, although if you told me 2 million dollars, He-Man, surgical bionics augmentation, and JCVD were involved, i’d believe you. Cyborg is just that scary.

Well, Cris “Cyborg” Santos is officially a free agent, which either means that Strikeforce was unwilling to pay her what she felt she was worth, or that Zuffa has decided against continuing to promote women’s MMA under the SF banner. Either way, it’s a blow to the promotion’s women’s division.

A source we spoke to today received confirmation from Cyborg’s management that Zuffa’s exclusive negotiation period with the 10-1 Curitiba, Brazil fighter ended yesterday and that the parent company of Strikeforce and the UFC failed to come to terms with the Strikeforce women’s middleweight champ before she became a free agent at the stroke of midnight.

(Cyborg Santos gives Amanda Lucas a guided tour of the mat)

Since the very beginning of our sport, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has been a critical component of Mixed Martial Arts competition (spoiler- Royce Gracie wins). Odds are good that unless you’re a diehard republican or an MMA judge, you share at least some appreciation for the subtle art of torquing limbs and rendering folks unconscious. Good news for you- the 2011 Mudials go down this weekend.

Competition in the lower belt rankings began on Thursday. In the video above you can check out Strikeforce’s 145lb women’s champion Cris Santos slam MMA fighter/George Lucas’s daughter Amanda Lucas in every manner possible en route to claiming a gold medal in the purple belt division. It is a little surprising that the most intimidating female fighter on the planet is competing as a purple belt, but not surprising enough that we would ask her about it to her face. ‘Grats to Cyborg for the medal and for finding a way to keep busy while her fighting career is inexplicably left to die on the vine.

Info on how to watch the event is after the break.

(Weird. The “cover your ears and rock back and forth while humming to yourself” defense worked so well in training.)

Inactive and without a fight booked since her squashing of Jan Finney last June, 145-pound Strikeforce women’s champion Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos is desperate to return to competition — so desperate that she had reportedly been negotiating for gigs with the WWE and a Brazilian fight promotion in recent months. Now she’s moved onto the public-pleading stage of her frustration. Here’s what she had to say yesterday via Twitter:

Hi My dear fans, want to fight too soon, but not dependent on me. This very difficult to renegotiate with scott. They’re not appreciating all I did for the event. I am very sad, but I will not give up. God has another purpose in my life…Maybe I fight the world jiujtsu not going to be the way you like with many punches…but I will give my best to make you guys like it.

Alright, Cris, here’s the deal…

(Gus. Fucking. Johnson. Pic: LA Times)

It was with a somewhat heavy heart we brought you news recently that women’s middleweight face-wrecker Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos was playing footsie with WWE, assumedly about joining the company’s stable of “divas.” In light of that, we’re pleased to report that Santos tells Tatame this week that she’ll return to the world of legitimate fighting in August … except … not with Strikeforce. From what we’re able to gather from the written report, Cyborg’s contract has expired and she can’t fight in America until she re-ups with SF. Not sure why, maybe some sort of non-compete clause or because there is just no other place for top-level women’s MMA fighters to ply their trade on this god-forsaken continent.

Instead, she’s nearly set to fight at an event in Brazil, against an opponent to be named later. After the jump, Cyborg’s manager elaborates, plus some notes about the return of former UFC middleweight Ivan Salaverry.

(Props: allelbows)

According to MMAWeekly, Strikeforce is working hard to book Sarah D’Alelio as the return opponent for MMA superstar Gina Carano. Though not all parties involved have signed off on the bout at the time of the report, the match would take place on the main card of Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum, June 18th at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas. Fighting out of Olympia, Washington, D’Alelio holds a record of 4-1 (all wins by stoppage), and most recently suffered her first loss in a decision against Julie Kedzie at a Jackson’s MMA Series event in December.

Greg Jackson has been overseeing Carano’s training as she prepares to come back from a 22-month layoff, and so far, he has nothing but nice things to say: “We don’t have any 145ers, and she’s really sweet and really nice. So, those are the things you look for…She’s really talented, she works hard, she does what’s expected, and I’m impressed…As I get to know her more as far as helping her out for the fight, we’ll get to a better sense of it. But, she definitely has all the talent and all the potential in the world.”

Meanwhile, Carano’s old nemesis Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos is still without her next opponent, ten months after her last title defense/squash match against Jan Finney. But as the video after the jump proves, Cris has been keeping herself in ferocious fighting shape…

(“Don’t move, Gina. This is how we’ll get mainstream acceptance.”)

Strikeforce hasn’t announced when  Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos will next defend her belt, and according to the dominant women’s middleweight champion, it’s not because she isn’t ready. It’s because she doesn’t have a contract.

Cyborg told Tatame recently that her contract ran out after her last fight with Jan Finney last June and she hasn’t spoken with Scott Coker and company about re-signing with the recently Zuffa-acquired promotion in the nine months since the bout.

“Currently I don’t have a contract signed, but on my former contract there was something saying that for a year I’m connected to the [promotion] but we might sign a new one.  I believe the fact that the UFC bought Strikeforce is a good thing for women, because we have two years to do a good job and prove them our value —  to prove it to Dana White,” she explains. “I’m not anxious and I’m not worried. I’m happy and I keep on training.”

(Hopefully Amanda doesn’t make Gina reconsider this whole fighting thing like Cyborg did)

If you think Strikeforce is going to give Gina Carano an easy return bout. think again.

According to Tatame, the former Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion will take on Amanda Nunes when the promotion returns to Texas June 18 for an event anchored by a light heavyweight bout between Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and a yet-to-be-named opponent and the two remaining opening-round heavyweight grand prix bouts between Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett versus Brett Rogers. The news was revealed to the Brazilian MMA news website by Nunes’ manager, who said they are currently in talks with Strikeforce for the bout.

The bout will mark the first fight in close to two years for Carano, who took a break from competition to focus on her burgeoning acting career. She stars as the lead in Steven Soderbergh’s “Haywire,” which opens April 22.

Nunes (6-1) is a tough fighter known for her knockout power, having finished each of her last six opponents by TKO or KO.

It seems like every MMA site and their brother has put out a ranking of hottest MMA wives and girlfriends. For this list, we’re more interested in the couples who would kick the most ass together in a street-fight — or in one of those freaky-ass tag-team MMA bouts. If we’ve left out any notable MMA couples, holler at us in the comments section…

#6: BRANDON AND KERRY VERA

Combined MMA record: 13-6
Status: Married since 2006
Tough cred: Brandon’s career skid in the UFC has culminated in three consecutive losses (though that last one might be overturned). On the bright side, his adorable wife Kerry is currently 2-0 as a mixed martial artist following a successful kickboxing career, including a first-round shellacking of Kim Couture in her Strikeforce debut.

#5. JORGE GURGEL AND ZOILA FRAUSTO

Combined MMA record: 23-8
Status: Just married
Tough cred: Like the Veras, the male half of this couple has had a tough go of it lately, losing four of his last five fights; Jorge will have a chance to redeem himself against Tyler Combs on the preliminary card of Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson on March 5th. Meanwhile, Frausto has established herself as one of the greatest female fighters in the world, grabbing Bellator’s 115-pound title and putting an end to Megumi Fujii’s 22-fight win streak. (She’ll also be returning to action on March 5th, against Karina Hallinan at Bellator 35.) Hopefully that isn’t a problem for Gurgel’s ego.

("I’m not sure what this has to do with the movie, Mr. Spielberg, but if you say Kate Capshaw auditioned topless, I’m cool with it, too.")

Well, it looks like Scott Coker is still under the impression that the former face of his promotion, Gina Carano will be back competing for Strikeforce this year. 

While on MMAFighting.com’s The MMA Hour Monday, Coker said that he’s confident that the former Strikeforce female 145-pound standout who hasn’t fought since losing her strap to Cris "Cyborg" Santos 17 months ago in August of 2009 will make her much-anticipated return before the end of 2011 — a lofty claim he made last year as well, that didn’t materialize.

"I believe she’ll be back in the cage this year. From what I know of her, she is a competitor at heart; she’s going to want to fight," Coker told Ariel Helwani. "She’s not going to want to end her career the way it ended. So, I think she’ll be back."

The Cyborg Family – Watch more Funny Videos

Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos and Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos — aka The Most Violent Couple on Earth — have been hard at work at their new Chute Boxe Team Cyborg gym, which they operate out of Cleber Luciano’s school in Huntington Beach. CagePotato West Coast correspondent Ruben Vera recently caught up with them to get an update on their lives inside and outside of the cage.

Neither fighter knows who their next opponent will be in Strikeforce, but they’re both training hard just in case an offer comes along. In a perfect world, Evangelista would get rematches with Gegard Mousasi and Melvin Manhoef. Cris doesn’t care who she fights because she doesn’t have anything personal against anybody — even Erin Toughill, who keeps calling her out. ("Even a bird can talk," Cris says.) Though she would be happy to go up in weight in fight Erin’s big ass, if it came to that.

As for their domestic life, Evangelista claims to do most of the cooking at home, and all of the cleaning. "Never clean!" Cris admits. In a fight between them, Cris would win because Evangelista would never hit a woman. On their iPods, Evangelista jams out to an audiobook of the Bible. Cris prefers "Waka Waka."