(Scott Coker: “Whooaa.” That other dude: “Niiiiiiice.” / Photo courtesy of facebook.com/StrikeforceMixedMartialArts)

Welcome, friends, to the most bonerrific highly-anticipated women’s bantamweight fight in MMA history. Seven months after winning the Strikeforce 135-pound strap, Miesha Tate will attempt to make her first title defense against arm-snapping fire-cracker Ronda Rousey. And that’s just the cherry on top of a loaded fight card that also features two former Strikeforce champions (Josh Thomson, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza), a pack of crowd-pleasing sluggers (Paul Daley, Scott Smith, KJ Noons), and the return of former PRIDE welterweight grand prix champion Kazuo Misaki.

Handling our liveblog for this evening is Steve Silverman, who will be posting round-by-round results for the Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey main card after the jump starting at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please toss your own brilliant opinions and observations into the comments section.

…and fillilng out nicely, we must say. (Pic: StandThemUp.org)

At the post-fight presser for “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs Jardine”, promotion CEO Scott Coker artfully dodged questions about the demise of Women’s Featherweight Champion Cris Cyborg, offering up some good news for the media to focus on instead. His announcement confirmed the pending showdown between Champion Miesha Tate and rising star Ronda Rousey. Additionally, Coker unveiled three more bouts for the card, which will go down in Columbus, Ohio on March 3^rd.

With their women’s Featherweight division in shambles, Strikeforce will look to further develop the scene at Bantamweight with a pairing of Sarah Kaufman and Alexis Davis. Kaufman formerly held Strikeforce’s 135lb strap–her only loss came in a title defense against Marloes Coenen back in October of 2010. Since that time she’s rattled off wins over Megumi Yabushita and Liz Carmouche. Davis is on a three-fight streak, picking up her last two wins over Julie Kedzie and Amanda Nunes under the Strikeforce banner. Given the caliber of competitors and their placement on this card, it’s safe to assume that the winner of this fight could go on to challenge the victor of the Tate-Rousey bout.

Yeah, she spent more time on the cage than in it. (Photo: Las Vegas Sun)

Since the late 90′s I’ve seen the same assertion rear its head on MMA email lists, usenet groups, and internet forums from time to time: The best fighter in the world isn’t in the cage or the ring. He’s toiling away in a South American coal mine or defending his land in Sub-Saharan Africa. His legend will never extend beyond the shores of his remote Pacific island and he’ll never be able to prove his abilities to the world. To a certain degree, this must be what life is like for Gilbert Melendez.

Finding out that your company is staying afloat and that your job is secure would normally be terrific news, but despite his admirable towing of the company line, you have to know that “El Niño” was gutted when he realized that Strikeforce wasn’t going anywhere and neither was he. The bright lights, big networks, and top paydays of the UFC will not be his. More importantly, neither is the opportunity to prove himself against the best in the world.

(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.

Yeah, we were praying for something to happen in that fight, too.

Heading into last night’s Strikeforce card, there were a lot of potential storylines. There was Werdum continuing to clean out Strikeforce’s heavyweight division. There was Overeem avenging his loss to Werdum five years ago in devastating fashion. There were the returns to relevance of Josh Barnett and Jeff Monson, the rise of Daniel Cormier and “Othereem” getting the fans to learn his name. Yet after the event was over, the most compelling thing we can take from it is that Dallas has some educated MMA fans. While your average Affliction clad meathead was booing from the start of Cormier vs. Monson until the end of the night, Dallas fans only booed during Overeem vs. Werdum.

Normally I hate when fans boo fighters, but to say Overeem vs. Werdum was boo-worthy doesn’t begin to capture what a disappointment the main event was. We expected fireworks, and instead were given an even less relevant version of Silva vs. Leites (at least that fight was for a title). If that fight was under the UFC banner, Dana White would have immediately issued an apology to the fans and a threat to fire Werdum over another performance like that. To say the least, Werdum’s chances of getting back into the UFC were more than likely squashed by that fight three round Thales Leites impression.

(Where’s your creepy joker-smile now, playboy?)

The latest installment in Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament goes down tonight at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, featuring the long-awaited rematch between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum, and Josh Barnett’s promotional debut against Brett Rogers. Plus, KJ Noons and Jorge Masvidal jockey for #1 contendership in the lightweight division, and 14-year veteran Jeff Monson collides with rising heavyweight star Daniel Cormier.

Handling the play-by-play for this evening will be the Shemp Howard of CagePotato’s liveblog-rotation, Matt Kaplan, so let him know you care in the comments section. Live results from the Showtime broadcast of “Overeem vs. Werdum” will be stacking up after the jump beginning at 10 p.m. ET; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

(“Overeem is my son. Scott Coker is my uncle. Gina Carano is my hot cousin. Josh Barnett is my sister’s meathead boyfriend.”)

Betting odds for the complete lineup of tomorrow night’s Strikeforce card were released yesterday, and looking over these numbers, it seems like the perfect opportunity to dig yourself out of the hole you put yourself in by following our previous gambling advice. Now, we don’t actually recommend the use of off-shore gambling sites these days, in light of the government’s recent eRaids, but hey, entertainment purposes and all, right? Check out the juiciest lines for Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com, then listen very carefully to what we have to say…

Main Card (Showtime, 10 p.m.)
Alistair Overeem (-321) vs. Fabricio Werdum (+300)
Josh Barnett (-319) vs. Brett Rogers (+309)
K.J. Noons (-144) vs. Jorge Masvidal (+135)
Daniel Cormier (-300) vs. Jeff Monson (+325)
Valentijn Overeem (+111) vs. Chad Griggs (-122)

(Video courtesy of  YouTube/MrKidKhaos)

Charles Bennett emerged last week from wherever he’s been hiding since being choked out by Drew Fickett during the Shine Fights lightweight tournament just long enough to film himself sipping on a Mountain Dew and puffing on a Black & Mild while calling out a handful of fighters he has beefs with.

("Minced martial arts is great. I watch it all the time.")

It looks like former UFC lightweight and welterweight champ BJ Penn has brought in a new secret weapon to help him prepare for upcoming UFC 127 bout with perennial contender Jon Fitch in Australia.

Fight Hype is reporting that “The Prodigy” has spent some time in Las Vegas honing his pugilistic skills with acclaimed boxing trainer Floyd Mayweather Senior.

The father of IBO, IBA, IBF and WBC welterweight and WBC super welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Junior, Senior has trained several top boxers including his son, Oscar De La Hoya, Leila Ali, Ricky Hatton, Joan Guzman and Chad Dawson.

“Joy” says that when “The Prodigy” first showed up at his gym, his nickname didn’t seem to be an accurate description of the Hilo, Hawaii native’s fighting prowess, but with a few days of his tutelage, Penn picked up a lot.

“BJ Penn is a cool dude, man. I’ll be honest, at first, it didn’t seem like he could fight that good. I mean, I don’t know about his ground game and all of that stuff, but he’s got some pop and in just the three days I’ve been working with him, he has improved, man,” he says. “In his words, man, he told me, ‘I ain’t never seen some of this stuff you’re showing me, man.’ And that’s only after three days. BJ is learning fast, man. He’s a good guy.”

("Say, ‘DANA!’")

Strikeforce announced today that welterweight champion and Gracie jiu-jitsu black belt Nick Diaz (23-7, 1 NC) has signed a new multi-year, multi-fight deal with the San Jose, California-based promotion.

Details of deal, including the duration and whether or not the contract is non-exclusive were not released, but with the signing Diaz put to bed rumors that he was angling for a return to the UFC to compete alongside his Team Cesar Gracie teammate Jake Shields when his Strikeforce contract ran out.

“I’m looking forward to continuing my career with Strikeforce,” said the 27-year-old Stockton native. “When I first got here, there weren’t a lot of great 170-pound fighters for me to fight, but that’s definitely changed. There’s a lot of really good fighters in the division now and I’m ready to fight anyone who thinks they can beat me.”

8-0 in his past eight fights, Diaz has only lost one fight in the past two years, which was a result of a stoppage due to a cut he sustained in his first bout with KJ Noons at Elite XC: Renegade in 2007. He was released by the UFC following back-to-back wins over Josh Neer and Gleison Tibau in his last two Octagon appearances.

(Anybody can do a punchface. That’s kid stuff. PicProps: Strikeforce)

That’s about as good as Strikeforce can do it, right there. America’s bridesmaid MMA promotion – typically cited for ineptness more than greatness – put on its best show in some time on Saturday night in San Jose. Nick Diaz and KJ Noons slogged through an exciting, if a bit repetitive, five-round main event that left Noons with a broken jaw and hand and Diaz bloodied, but still clinging to his welterweight title. The homies even looked like true homies after the final horn, hugging it out at the center of the cage. Meanwhile, Marloes Coenen appeared tall and capable in taking the women’s 135-pound belt off Sarah Kaufman, while Josh Thomson slipped by JZ Cavalcante, but once again proved that his main, main thing is making declarative statements and calling fools out.

Did the quality of the broadcast still leave a lot to be desired? Sure, Jim Ross, it always does. But at this point we’re focusing on the positives. Like the bitch mom from “American Beauty” we feel like grabbing Strikeforce by its rosy cheeks this morning and announcing: “You didn’t even screw up once!” Now on to the particulars.

(Ah, memories. PicProps: MMA Weekly)

The Diaz and Noons clans renew their Hatfield vs. McCoy-style family feud tonight in the Strikeforce cage. We all know what happened last time. A lot has changed in the three years since doctors stepped in to award Karl James Jr. a first-round victory over Nickolas Robert in EliteXC. In the wake of that fight, one guy opted to let surgeons fix his face. The other guy got called “luckier than a dog with two peckers.” The weirdo 160-pound strap they fought over in EliteXC doesn’t even exist anymore. Perhaps most importantly, homies everywhere have been reminded not to be scared. Kind of makes you shudder to think what might happen in the rematch, huh?

The live blog begins at 10 p.m. EST. Be sure to hit refresh early and often to stay abreast of the latest updates.

(VidProps: YouTube/Heyman Hustle)

Even though it probably committed its welterweight champion to the wrong grudge match, Strikeforce has managed to cobble together a decent little card for its Showtime broadcast tonight. Nick Diaz’s main event bout with KJ Noons could be the kind of brawlalicous slugfest that MMA fans always say we don’t see enough. Couple that with Sarah Kaufman finally getting the chance to fight on a “major” show and Josh Thomson battling Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante for the respect he believes they so richly deserve, and it should be a pretty good time. So why do I feel so concerned? Maybe because there are a few storylines running just below the surface that we as MMA fans should find a bit disquieting. Here’s a look at them … 
 

The icy glares of Nick Diaz and KJ Noons that have been haunting the top of our homepage all day should serve as a firm reminder — Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Noons II goes down tomorrow night on Showtime, starting at 10 p.m. Be sure to come back tomorrow for round-by-round results in our liveblog. In the meantime, check out the final thoughts from a few of the main card players in these clips from strikeforcefilms.

Above: Marloes Coenen and Sarah Kaufman discuss their 135-pound title scrap. 135 is an unfamiliar weight class for Coenen, but she’s had no problem with the cut, and as you can see during the face-off at the end, she’ll be carrying a serious height advantage.

After the jump: KJ Noons talks about his own trip to a new weight class, and his appreciation of Diaz’s style. Nick Diaz gives him props for taking the rematch, and suggests that he might not have been motivated in their first fight, due to Noons’s lack of name-value. ("I’d rather fight Fedor, y’know?") Then, some genius reporter asks Nick if he’s going to jump ship to the UFC, with Scott Coker sitting right next to him. Ouch. Also, Tyron Woodley breaks down his matchup with Andre Galvao and talks about his development in the sport.

(Now that’s gangster. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com) 

Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Noons II goes down Saturday night (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET/PT), and it’s not too late to put some cash on the fights. If you’ve already blown your kids’ college fund — hey, it happens — please swing by MMA Fightpicker and made your picks there. Otherwise, check out the Internet’s most favorable betting odds (below, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com) and let’s get to work…

MAIN CARD
Nick Diaz (-199) vs. KJ Noons (+200)
Sarah Kaufman (-290) vs. Marloes Coenen (+273)
Josh Thomson (-160) vs. Gesias "J.Z." Cavalcante (+159)
Tyron Woodley (-240) vs. Andre Galvao (+220)

PRELIMINARY CARD
Bret Bergmark (-124) vs. James Terry (+120)
Eric Lawson (-110) vs. Ron Keslar (EV)

(Props: graciefighterz)

This Saturday in San Jose, Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz will defend his belt against KJ Noons, the last fighter to defeat him. Diaz vs. Noons 1 took place at EliteXC: Renegade in November 2007; the fight was stopped due to cuts after the first round. Since their first meeting, Diaz has gone 7-0 (all wins by stoppage), with notable victories over Frank Shamrock, Scott Smith, Marius Zaromskis, and Hayato Sakurai. Noons has gone 4-0 since his win over Diaz, scoring knockouts against Yves Edwards and Jorge Gurgel.

It’s a rematch that needed to happen eventually, and most oddsmakers currently have Diaz at more than a 2-1 favorite, apparently based on Nick’s reputation and the fact that Noons is fighting in an unfamiliar weight class. The question is, will it look anything like their first meeting? In case you haven’t lately, check out the above video of their first fight. Let’s try to break it down…

(The Strikeforce Police will be a fixture at every event Nick Diaz is at)

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker says that if a brawl erupts during the weigh-ins or main event bout of this Saturday’s event, the promotion will shoulder the blame this time around for not having the proper preventative measures in place.

Coker appeared yesterday on MMAFighting’s The MMA Hour and told host, Ariel Helwani that there will be plenty of precautions to ensure Nick Diaz and KJ Noons’ camps don’t throw down before or after their scheduled fight this weekend.

"I’ll tell you what – if we leave those two guys in a room alone, I think you know what’s going to happen," Coker said. "So it’s up to us – we’re going to have a wall of security there. We’ve brought extra police to handle the weigh-ins, the press conference and pretty much a wall of people will be there for the night of the fight. We have to take precautionary measures because these guys have this big feud – and it’s not just them, it’s their camps. We’re going to make sure that we host it properly, and part of that is adding extra security and police officers, and it’ll be fine."

(“What the fuck did you just say?” PicProps: Showtime)

Looks like the intrepid journalists at Strikeforce Films had to go to the gym and pull a shirtless Nick Diaz out of a training session in order to actually get him on the record about his upcoming rematch with KJ Noons. This after Diaz no-showed the company’s media conference call on Tuesday, leaving Noons to answer everybody’s questions all by his lonesome. Maybe that was for the best actually, since the last time Strikeforce tried to put Diaz onto a conference call he was so “sleepy” he didn’t really know what was going on. Or Maybe the Diaz Bros are finally starting to realize that talking to the media shouldn’t be their main thing, given how much stupid shit they constantly say whenever they get the chance. No wait, sorry, they’re still totally into doing that.

Anyway, the result of SF Films’ effort is after the jump, and it’s pretty much what you would expect: Diaz continues act like he thinks of himself as a normal, happy-go-lucky guy who just can’t believe that all these assholes keep fucking with him.

("I got your conference call for you right here, Coker.")

Apparently Nick Diaz doesn’t like conference calls.

If Strikeforce would have read his "Things I don’t like," rider he sent along to them with his signed contract, they would have realized that "conference calls" were on the list before "Mayhem Miller" and after "children" and they wouldn’t have scheduled him for a media call that he had no intention of participating in. 

So instead of pulling the plug on today’s call completely when they realized Nick wasn’t interested in talking to reporters about his October 9 title defense against KJ Noons, they got the next best guest they could get on short notice for the call: Cesar Gracie. No, seriously, that’s the best they could do.

According to Diaz’s outspoken coach, it "isn’t in Nick’s psyche" to do conference calls with his upcoming opponents, but he didn’t have a problem pretending to know what Nick would say in response to reporters’ questions.

Here’s the transcript of the call, which seemed suspiciously more like a scripted infomercial than a conference call at times. I’m not surprised Nick took one look at his lines and said, "Fuck that; I’m out."

(Props: youtube.com/shosports)

It’s not quite Nick Diaz vs. Jason Miller, but Strikeforce is going to do its very best to convince you that Nick Diaz vs. KJ Noons — who’s fighting for the title in his Strikeforce welterweight debut! — is the grudge match you’ve been begging for. And how do they plan on accomplishing that? By staying on message. As you’ll see, the famous phrase "Don’t be scared, homey" pops up twice in this one-minute hype clip for Strikeforce’s next event at San Jose’s HP Pavilion on October 9th. Which begs the question: If "DBS,H" is the theme of the night, why not hold the event in Stockton? What, too real for you guys? Violent crime rate too high? Pussies.

At this point, only two other fights have been booked for the Showtime broadcast of Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Noons II. After earning her employers’ respect with a slam-knockout of Roxanne Modafferi at the last Challengers card, 135-pound champion Sarah Kaufman will make her next title defense against Marloes Coenen, who was sacrificed to Cris Cyborg earlier this year at Strikeforce: Miami. Also, Matt Lindland will follow up his TKO win over Kevin Casey with a bout against hot middleweight prospect Luke Rockhold (7-1), who has ended all six of his Strikeforce appearances by first-round stoppage, including wins over Jesse Taylor and Cory Devela. Christ, good luck Matt.

 
(I think the message was quite clear. I specifically told Nick NOT to be scared.)

It looks like Strikeforce has missed the marketing train once again as the promotion has passed on a self-selling grudge match between Jason "Mayhem Miller" and Nick Diaz and will instead once again pair the latter up with KJ Noons in a rematch of their 2007 EliteXC title bout. In that fight, Noons emerged victorious due to doctor stoppage resulting from a cut sustained by Diaz. More memorable than their bout was the in-cage melee between Team Cesar Gracie and Noons’ father a year later after Noons’ fight with Yves Edwards in Hawaii during which Nick’s immortal "Don’t be scared, homie," line was born. EliteXC brass orchestrated a rematch-hyping staredown between KJ and Nick, but as we have learned, whenever a Diaz is involved, anything can, and usually will happen.

This time around Diaz’s welterweight strap will be up for grabs, which makes perfect sense according to Strikeforce calculus. Anywhere else Noons may have to…I don’t know…win a fight at 170 perhaps before getting a shot for the belt. But this is Strikeforce, where logic is overrated and matchmaking is easy if you have a magic eight ball.

(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.

("You think you scare me, Whitemare? I bang Cris Cyborg. Voluntarily." Photo courtesy of the Strikeforce LA Live Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

Q: Why are we watching a Strikeforce event on Showtime, in the middle of the damn week, ten days before a bigger Strikeforce event on Showtime?

A: Why the hell not?

The stakes are relatively low, but the matchups are promising. In the main event, Renato Sobral and Robbie Lawler slug it out in a moneyweight battle for a potential title shot down the road. Welterweights Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos and Marius "The Whitemare" Zaromskis meet in a guaranteed basher. Plus, Army Staff Sergeant Tim Kennedy defends his country’s honor against South African veteran Trevor Prangley, and KJ Noons returns to the cage against Conor Heun. Round-by-round results await you after the jump. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and let’s hope these fights end early so I can go to bed.

(Feelin’ lucky?)

Okay, I know it’s too early to do a Gambling Addiction Enabler on Strikeforce’s "Fedor vs. Werdum" show (June 26, San Jose), but I just had to pass along the squashtastic betting lines that have been released for the top four fights on the card. Check it out:

– Fedor Emelianenko -1000 vs. Fabricio Werdum +500
– Cristiane Santos -2500 vs. Jan Finney +1000
– Cung Le -400 vs. Scott Smith +275
– KJ Noons -500 vs. Charles Bennett +360

Let me try to put this in perspective. According to BetUs.com, if you place a $100 parlay bet on all four of the underdogs listed above, and they all somehow manage to win their fights, you would walk away with a profit of $89,150. A more modest $20 parlay bet would net you $17,830. 

(Hopefully, for KJ’s sake, that scale is bolted down)

Sherdog is reporting that June’s Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum  event has added double the firepower with the addition of a main card bout featuring former EliteXC lightweight champion KJ Noons and Charles "Krazy Horse" "Kid Kaos" Bennett. The fight will be a heavily anticipated rematch of their February 10, 2007 fight (video after the jump) that saw Bennett knock Noons out in the first round.

(Noons celebrates a TKO [via cut] victory over Diaz, which he is sure will shut Nick up for good. Yep, he’s definitely heard the last of this bit of business.)

KJ Noons may have temporarily abandoned his dreams of boxing greatness to return to MMA, but you can forget any hopes you had of seeing him jump right back in against Nick Diaz in Strikeforce. Noons’s first fight back will instead take place at Dream.13 on March 22, where he’ll face Brazilian lightweight Andre “Dida” Amado. For those of you who don’t know, “Dida” is a Muay Thai specialist who is 6-3-1 in his six-year career, and he’s coming off three straight losses, including a submission defeat to Gesias Cavalcante and a TKO loss to Eddie Alvarez.

In other words, this fight is not exactly a leap back into the shark tank of MMA. It’s more like easing into a hot bath filled with some mildly pissed off lake trout. But hey, maybe that’s what Noons needs to get reacquainted with all this kicking and kneeing and grappling stuff. It has been almost two years since his last MMA fight, a TKO victory over Yves Edwards. Maybe he needs to beat up a Brazilian in Japan, get comfortable again, and then it’s back to the U.S. to show Nick Diaz that he is totally not scared, homey. That’s how it would go down in our perfect world, anyway.

(Noons and Diaz on the same card again? Don’t be scared, homey…)

Though Marius Zaromskis line-jumped him for a Strikeforce welterweight title shot, Jay Hieron has made peace with the disappointment and is ready to move on with his career. "All good things come to those that wait," Hieron recently told MMA Junkie Radio. "Trust me, I’m going to make a statement in my next fight." If early reports are accurate, that statement could come against welterweight veteran Joe Riggs at Strikeforce: Miami (1/30), supporting the Diaz vs. Zaromskis headliner. Riggs was victorious in his last two Strikeforce appearances against Luke Stewart and Phil Baroni, and picked up a couple of wins last month in smaller promotions against two guys with losing records. Hieron is on a six-fight win streak, most recently scoring a unanimous decision against Jesse Taylor at Carano vs. Cyborg in August.

This month’s Strikeforce card is also expected to feature the MMA return of KJ Noons, best known for becoming EliteXC’s 160-pound champ after beating Nick Diaz via cut stoppage in November 2007 — then losing his belt when he refused a rematch. Noons hasn’t competed in MMA since his 48-second smoking of Yves Edwards in June ’08, after which he left the sport to take a few boxing matches. According to MMA Mania, his return fight will put him up against undefeated lightweight Billy Evangelista, who most recently won a decision over Jorge Gurgel at a Strikeforce Challengers event in November. If Noons can get past Evangelista, he’s a factor again. Will we eventually get to see a rematch between Noons and Diaz? Or at least another family vs. family post-fight brawl? Is there a statute of limitations on bitchassness?