(Before GSP and Carlos Condit, KJ Noons was by far the biggest pain in Nick Diaz’s ass. Photo via Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

Remember when Jorge Gurgel made the ominous claim that the losers at Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine would be out of a job? It’s starting to look like that rule maybe just applied to Jorge Gurgel. (Sorry, bro.) According to reports that have been coming out since the show, a couple of prelim fighters who fell short in their matches will soon be picked up by the UFC.

First up is KJ Noons, who lost to Ryan Couture in a decision so questionable that Dana White wondered if the coin-flip method would be more effective. It was Noons’s fourth loss in his last five outings — dating back to his rematch loss to Nick Diaz in October 2010 — but the UFC is giving the tough lightweight striker a chance to prove himself in the Octagon. As Noons told MMAJunkie yesterday, ”They said, ‘Heal up, and as soon as you’re healed up, then start training, and we’ll get you on a card.”

For Noons, a potential move to the UFC would represent a massive improvement to his career, and not just because of the increased visibility:

(Zoila will likely be out of commission until early to mid 2012)

Bellator women’s strawweight champion Zoila Frausto-Gurgel announced today via Twitter that she has torn one of her anterior cruciate ligaments and has been forced to pull out of a scheduled November 12 title defense at Bellator 57 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada.

VidProps: The Jorge Gurgel MMA Academy

Sometimes, the less that is said about something, the better. At least, that’s what my wife tells me, usually after i make a joke she doesn’t like. Come to think of it, you bastards here at CagePotato remind me of her sometimes. And before you ask: no, i will not cuddle with you. I’ll get all hot and sweaty and i won’t sleep well, and then all my writing the next day will suck.

Well, suck worse.

Speaking of cuddling, here’s a video of Jorge Gurgel insinuating himself into Rich Franklin’s post-workout ice bath. Taking my wife’s oft-repeated advice, i’ll say as little as possible and let the video speak for itself, even though i’m dying to make an “Ace in the hole” joke.

[RX]

(Careful, Gegard. If he bites you, you become one of them. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

According to a new report, former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi could meet Mike Kyle at the promotion’s September 10th card (venue TBA).

The two fighters were originally scheduled to meet at the ‘Diaz vs. Daley’ card in April, but Kyle was forced to withdraw due to a broken hand; Mousasi wound up fighting to a disappointing draw against late-replacement Keith Jardine. The “Armenian Assassin” is already slated to defend his DREAM light-heavyweight belt against Hiroshi Izumi in Tokyo on July 16th.

(Definitely an upgrade for Jorge. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com)

Zoila Gurgel (formerly Frausto)’s first Bellator appearance since winning the promotion’s 115-pound title last October may also be her last of the season. According to a CSAC medical report, Gurgel broke her hand during her unanimous decision victory over Karina Hallinan this weekend, and may be out of action for six months. Since Bellator’s current fourth season is only scheduled to run through May 21st, it’s almost certain that she won’t be back until season five, which kicks off in the fall.

(“Dudes, *tell* me you just saw that!” Props: Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

Add the Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight Championship to the list of MMA’s Great Curses. When Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante fell victim to Dan Henderson‘s mythical “H-Bomb” right hand last night in Columbus, he became the fourth-consecutive Strikeforce LHW champ to lose the belt without making a single successful defense. (Quick refresher: Babalu Sobral lost it to Gegard Mousasi, who lost it to King Mo, who lost it to Feijao, who lost it Hendo.)

Time will tell if Dan Henderson suffers the same fate. In the meantime, the decorated vet’s arrival as champion helps bolster the 205′ers as a marquee division in Strikeforce. Besides Dan and all the former champions previously mentioned, SF’s light-heavyweight roster now includes guys like Roger Gracie, Mike Kyle, Rhadi Ferguson — tell Fedor Emelianenko to drop 20 pounds, and you’ve got the makings of another great World Grand Prix, especially if their heavyweight tournament continues to run into delays.

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 gotta split, man. KITT is double parked out front.)

According to Strikeforce lightweight KJ Noons, he isn’t a dirty fighter and he says fans shouldn’t be swayed by popular opinion about a late punch he connected with after the bell in the first round and a questionable knee he landed to his downed opponent Jorge Gurgel in the second round during their Strikeforce: Houston bout on Saturday night.

"I’m not trying to be dirty," Noons said. "I’m just trying to finish the fight."

The fighter with the Hasselhoff hair explained the late shot to MMAJunkie, pointing to the fact that he wanted to ensure he won the round and that he didn’t even hear the bell.

"I didn’t hear the bell," Noons said. "I heard the 10 seconds. When you hear the 10 seconds, being a fighter, this is your chance. I don’t know if I won that round. I don’t know if he won that round. You want to end every round showing out good. A lot of guys do a takedown. For myself, I want to get that last couple combos in to maybe finish the round good and win the round."

(VidProps: YouTube/KarelMMArts)

Even 12 hours later, it’s difficult to fully grasp the ways in which Jorge Gurgel’s fight with KJ Noons turned into a terrible abortion at Saturday night’s Strikeforce: Houston show. Suffice it to say, a lot of things went horribly wrong and nearly everyone involved failed miserably to do their jobs.

As he almost always does, Gurgel came into the fight with the worst possible game plan, essentially guaranteeing defeat before the bout even started. Meanwhile, Noons crammed not one, but two blatantly illegal strikes into just over five minutes of fighting. For his part, referee Kerry Hatley seemed not to notice either of the infractions, then totally bungled one of the more obvious stoppage situations you’ll ever encounter in MMA. All the while the Strikeforce broadcast team reconfirmed for viewers its complete inability to adjust on the fly when even the slightest controversy rears its head.

(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. 
 

(For some reason, Strikeforce opted to hold this week’s prefight media events at The Black Lodge. VidProps: YouTube/Helwani)

I’m going to tread lightly here, because I don’t want KJ Noons’ dad to physically attack me, but sometimes it just seems like it would be better, maybe, if Karl Jr. didn’t talk. At least not in public. Sure, Noons is a decent fighter, but watching him stumble through six minutes, 35 seconds worth of half-finished sentences, "you knows" and grammar that is probably best described as “Tito-esque” in the above video makes me wonder if a better public relations strategy for him wouldn’t be to just stand there and smile and occasionally flip his lustrous hair out of his eyes.

Noons in fact does spend the first minute of his interview with Ariel Helwani talking about his hair. He’s growing it out, see, just for the experience and just in case he goes bald later in life. You never can be too careful. “It’s pretty crazy, dude,” he says about his plans to see how long he can get it. It takes until the 5:38 mark in this vid for Noons to get to the heart of anything interesting, like the recent comments he made about the UFC being “boring as hell.” When the subject does come up, Noons falls back one of the more tried-and-true defenses for morons who say shit they later regret: It was the media’s fault.

(Del Rosario vs. Cash. Props: mixedmartialartvideos.com. More fights after the jump.)

From last night’s show at the SaveMart Center in Fresno, California…

MAIN CARD
- Billy Evangelista def. Jorge Gurgel via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)
- Shane del Rosario def. Brandon Cash via submission (omoplata), 2:57 of round 1
- Luke Rockhold def. Jesse Taylor via submission (rear-naked choke), 3:42 of round 1
- Merrit Warren def. Ousmane Thomas Diagne via submission (heel hook), 3:49 of round 1
- Zoila Frausto def. Elisha Helsper via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)

PRELIMINARY CARD
- Ben Holscher def. Johnny Goh via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
- Casey Olson def. Chris Culley via TKO, 2:32 of round 1
- Cole Escovedo def. Maurice Eazel via TKO, 1:47 of round 1
- Rico Altamirano def. Alex Trevino via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)

(Photo courtesy of this set on MMA Junkie.)

"Fedor vs. Rogers" may be getting all the attention lately, but it’s just one of three events that Strikeforce is putting on this month. The first one goes down tonight at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, when undefeated AKA prospect Billy Evangelista (9-0) takes on UFC vet Jorge Gurgel (13-5), who’s coming off his exciting decision win over Conor Heun at the June 19th Challengers show. Elsewhere on the card, Jesse "JT Mongo" Taylor tries to rebound from his loss to Jay Hieron at "Carano vs. Cyborg" when he takes on 5-1 up-and-comer Luke Rockhold, while Brandon Cash and Shane Del Rosario put their undefeated records on the line in a heavyweight tilt. Plus: Warrior Princess vs. Knuckles, and Cole Escovedo continues his comeback. Showtime will broadcast the main card of "Strikeforce Challengers: Evangelista vs. Gurgel" at 11 p.m. ET/PT. The full lineup and weigh-in results are after the jump…

("Hug me or I’ll kill your entire family.")

According to an MMA Junkie report, Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos may not be available to defend her 145-pound title at Strikeforce’s November 7th "Fedor vs. Rogers" event because of an injury, apparently suffered during her participation in the 2009 ADCC tournament in Barcelona. Said her manager, Richard Wilner: "It’s unlikely that Cris will be fighting on [Nov. 7] but still possible. I’m awaiting her return from Spain to get her assessed by a doctor here. Out of respect to Strikeforce, CBS and Cris’ potential opponent, we alerted them to this issue early so as not to interfere with pre-production, preparation, etc." When Santos does make her return, her first opponent is expected to be Dutch submission specialist Marloes Coenen. In other Strikeforce news…

(Villasenor puts on a brief left hook clinic. Photo courtesy of Strikeforce.)

Despite getting his leg tenderized with kicks for much of the fight, “Smokin” Joey Villasenor took a split decision victory over Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos in the main event of last night’s Strikeforce Challengers event in Kent, Washington.  Then he did what every Strikeforce middleweight is practically obliged to do: call out Cung Le.

In what was somewhat surprisingly the most exciting fight on the televised card, Jorge Gurgel and Connor Heun slugged it out almost entirely on the feet for three rounds.  Gurgel’s face may have looked like a poorly executed attempt at a jack-o-lantern after the fight, but he won the unanimous decision victory and afterward praised Heun’s toughness and impressive chin.  Full results are after the jump.

(Cristiane and Evangelista’s high school class voted them "Most Likely to Push Your Shit In." Photo courtesy of Showtime Sports.)

No rest for the hardcore MMA fan: Strikeforce’s second "Challengers" event goes down this Friday at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington — a day before the TUF 9 finale in Las Vegas. Headlining the Strikeforce card will be a middleweight matchup between two exciting strikers: Team Jackson product “Smokin’” Joey Villasenor and Chute Boxe veteran Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos. Both guys are coming off extended layoffs; Villasenor hasn’t competed since his first-round TKO win over Phil Baroni last May, and Santos is coming back from an elbow injury suffered in a Sengoku fight against Siyar Bahadurzada in September.

Also on the card: Highly-regarded welterweight Nick Thompson takes a middleweight fight against Tim Kennedy out of desperation, UFC vet Jorge Gurgel makes his Strikeforce debut against bully-beater Conor Heun, and Sarah Kaufman and Shayna Baszler will test out Strikeforce’s new five-minute-rounds policy in the night’s sole women’s feature. Not bad for premium cable. The full lineup is after the jump.

(This Cyborg, not this one. Photo courtesy of CageToday.com.)

Maybe Strikeforce‘s roster isn’t so thin after all. According to a new press release sent out by the fight league, Strikeforce will hold its second "Challengers" event at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington on Friday, June 19th — just two weeks after "Lawler vs. Shields" goes down in St. Louis — and a host of prominent names are already booked.

(Another otherwise-lovely photo ruined by red-eye. Props to JunieBrowning.com.)

TUF 8‘s man-you-love-to-hate is close to finalizing his next Octagon appearance. Junie Browning and TUF 5 castmember Cole Miller have reportedly agreed to face each other at UFC Fight Night 18 (April 1st, Nashville). Still a perfect 3-0 as a professional, Browning most recently submitted Dave Kaplan via armbar at last month’s TUF 8 finale, and has been trying to get his game tightened up at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. Miller (14-3) is an American Top Team member who last fought at UFC 86 in July, where he choked out Jorge Gurgel. Sounds like a solid step up in competition for "The Lunatik" — will he rise to the challenge?

In other fight-bookin’ news…

— UFC Fight Night 18 will also host a middleweight bout between Ricardo Almeida and Matt Horwich, who are both coming off losses. Almeida dropped a split decision to Patrick Cote at UFC 86, while former IFL champion Horwich lost a decision to Dan Miller in his Octagon debut at UFC 90. As accomplished and talented as both fighters are, the loser might find himself without a contract.

— Junie Browning’s Team Mir drinking buddy Shane Nelson, who clawed out a split decision victory over George Roop at the TUF 8 finale, is being brought back to take on Aaron Riley at UFC 96 (March 7th, Columbus). Just like Cole Miller, Riley’s last appearance was also a win over Jorge Gurgel, at UFC 91 in November. Poor Jorge Gurgel.

(Photo courtesy of daylife.com.)

Well, it looks like the Octagon will be short one dreadlocked Camaroonian. Multiple sources have confirmed that charismatic Team Quest fighter Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou has been released from his fight contract following his TKO loss to light-heavyweight up-and-comer Luis Cane at UFC 89 last month; the defeat dropped Soko’s UFC record down to 1-2, and his overall record to 5-3. Though he entered the UFC on a wave of hype last year with quick knockout victories over PRIDE stars Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona under his belt, Sokodjou’s relative inexperience was exposed in his unsuccessful debut against Lyoto Machida, and now he’s been pink-slipped to sharpen up his game elsewhere.

Speaking of fighters who never lived up to the promise of their pre-UFC performances, Rich Franklin’s BFF Jorge Gurgel has been cut — despite winning a $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus at UFC 91 — and picked up by Strikeforce. Gurgel’s decision loss to Aaron Riley earlier this month was just another frustrating example of Gurgel brawling his way to defeat rather than use the fearsome jiu-jitsu that earned him a 9-1 record (with all wins by submission) before being signed by the UFC. Within the Octagon, Gurgel went 3-4, with all but one fight going to a decision.

Though he told MMA Junkie that the cut was "very humiliating" and "a crushing of my childhood dream," he also sounded hopeful in a press release distributed by Strikeforce, saying "To me, this is like a new start. I’m coming in fresh…I make some bad decisions because I have too much fun. I have never used my Jiu Jitsu in the UFC…[people] ask me why I don’t use my Jiu-Jitsu. I have so much fun standing up and I completely think I’m winning all the time…I will always bring the same intensity and I’m always going to fight 110 percent. I just want to be able to use everything that I know."

UFC 91 PPV numbers and more after the jump…

(When Jon Fitch says he’s going to wear your ass like a hat, it’s not a threat — it’s a guarantee.)

According to a report on MMA Mania, Jon Fitch will begin his road back to title contention with a fight against Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 (January 31st, Las Vegas). Fitch, who most recently dropped a unanimous decision to welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87 in August, was previously scheduled to face Gono in March, but a hand injury forced “The Japanese Sensation” to drop out of the match; Gono went on to lose a decision to Dan Hardy at last month’s UFC 89. The UFC’s Super Bowl weekend card will be headlined by Fitch’s old nemesis GSP facing BJ Penn, as well as Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva.

In other UFC news…

— Apparently back-to-back losses were enough to get Marcus Aurelio‘s contract shredded. Five Ounces of Pain reports that the American Top Team fighter has been let go following unanimous decision defeats at the hands of Tyson Griffin (at UFC 86) and Hermes Franca (at UFC 90). Though Aurelio has had an impressive career and holds victories over Takanori Gomi, Masakazu Imanari, and Rich Clementi, he leaves the Octagon with a 2-3 UFC record.

(“Fruit smoothies are on me tonight, buddy!”)

The UFC paid out a juicy $1,358,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses for UFC 91, with the night’s headliners walking away with over half of that total. The numbers are below; keep in mind that they don’t include income from sponsorships, undisclosed “locker room bonuses” or pay-per-view percentages, or deductions due to expenses such as insurance and taxes. And here we go…

Brock Lesnar: $450,000 (includes $200,000 win bonus)
Randy Couture: $250,000
Gabriel Gonzaga: $110,000 (includes $55,000 win bonus)
Dustin Hazelett: $88,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus, $60,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
Kenny Florian: $80,000 (includes $40,000 win bonus)
Jeremy Stephens: $76,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus, $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Jorge Gurgel: $70,000 (includes $60,000 Fight of the Night Bonus)
Aaron Riley: $68,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus, $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Demian Maia: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)

(Battle of the Teams Who Only Win About 60% of the Time.)

After doing a little bit of digging on Sherdog’s Fight Statistics section, MMA Madness posted a list of the ten most successful MMA camps (with at least 100 combined fights):

1. Arizona Combat Sports, 116-27, .81
1. Jackson’s Submission Fighting, 124-30, .81
3. Minnesota Martial Arts, 243-64, .79
4. Team Curran, 108-42, .77
4. American Jiu-Jitsu, 92-28, .77
4. American Kickboxing Academy, 174-53, .77
7. HIT Squad, 80-25, .76
7. Capital City Fighting Alliance, 78-25, .76
7. Southwest MMA, 78-25, .76
7. Miletich Martial Arts, 457-148, .76

Falling just out of the top ten were ATT, Xtreme Couture, Team Punishment, and The Pit.

In the interest of fairness, we compiled the ten least successful MMA camps. If you were thinking about joining up with these guys, think twice.

Get ‘em while they last…

(Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Justin McCully)

(Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver)

The official judges’ tallies, from Dave Meltzer via Fightlinker:

Adalaide Byrd
Round 1: 10-9 Griffin
Round 2: 10-8 Griffin
Round 3: 10-9 Griffin
Round 4: 10-9 Jackson
Round 5: 10-9 Jackson

Nelson Hamilton
Round 1: 10-9 Jackson
Round 2: 10-8 Griffin
Round 3: 10-9 Griffin
Round 4: 10-9 Jackson
Round 5: 10-9 Griffin

Roy Silbert
Round 1: 10-9 Griffin
Round 2: 10-9 Griffin
Round 3: 10-9 Griffin
Round 4: 10-9 Jackson
Round 5: 10-9 Griffin

Personally, I don’t agree that Rampage was “robbed” in this decision whatsoever — I think Griffin clearly controlled rounds 1, 2, and 5 — but for all three judges to give round 3 to the challenger is very questionable; Rampage found his distance in that round and started landing his lead-fisted punch combos. But then again, all three judges gave round 4 to Jackson, which I saw as a very close frame that could have been scored for Griffin due to his triangle attempt, which came within a ball-hair of finishing the fight. I’m sure the argument will rage on, but there’s one thing we can all agree on: These judges are totally incompetent. Where’s Cecil Peoples when you need him?

As if there was any doubt, Rampage vs. Forrest won UFC 86′s Fight of the Night bonus, with both headliners picking up $60,000 for their event-saving performance. As mentioned earlier, Knockout of the Night went to Melvin Guillard for his 36-second destruction of Dennis Siver, and Submission of the Night went to Cole Miller for choking out Jorge Gurgel; those bonuses were also worth $60k. Full payout info to come as soon as we have it…