(Never go up against a thespian when death is on the line.)

According to new reports, Strikeforce middleweight champ Luke Rockhold will defend his belt at Strikeforce’s July 14th event in Portland, where he’ll face off against former title contender/video-parodist Tim Kennedy.

Luke Rockhold has won his last eight fights, most recently beating the crap out of Keith Jardine in a somewhat farcical title defense in January. Kennedy has won his last two bouts under the Strikeforce banner, but hasn’t competed since a unanimous decision win over Robbie Lawler in July 2011. Rockhold and Kennedy were briefly scheduled to face each other last year before Rockhold pulled out of the matchup, and were matched up again earlier this year before Tim had to withdraw due to injury, so this one’s been a long time coming. Can the Special Forces sniper shock Rockhold and take that belt?

Also on the card…

And it was here, in this blighted place, that Strikeforce learned to live again… (Props: FoxSports.com)

The fact that a Strikeforce aftermath is being broken down into two separate posts is probably confusing most of our longtime readers, considering we’ve had so little to say about the organization leading up to last night’s Strikeforce card. Ever since Zuffa’s acquisition of the organization, our post-event recaps have focused on Strikeforce’s lack of a direction, now-meaningless titles and ever-diminishing roster. The organization clearly wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. going under), yet it also, well, wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. it wasn’t planning future growth). Yet last night, for the first time in a while, Strikeforce looked like an organization that could consistently provide MMA fans with intriguing, relevant matchups.

After all of the hype that Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate managed to create for last night’s bout, the ending could not have possibly gone better for Strikeforce. Exciting fight? Check. Dramatic finish? Check. And most importantly, Sarah Kaufman’s victory over Alexis Davis on the undercard established a clear challenger for the new champion who actually stands a chance at beating the champion. The biggest problem with Strikeforce’s title fights as of late has been the fact that the champions are simply too much better than anyone that Strikeforce can match them up with (Rockhold vs. Jardine, anyone?). While Rousey continued to look phenomenal in her short MMA career last night, former champion Sarah Kaufman provides another intriguing matchup for her. Back to back championship fights in a Strikeforce weight class that will pit the champion against a formidable opponent who is coming off of a victory: Now that’s encouraging.

(This is when we’d normally tell you to keep your chin up, Keith, but that seems to be what got you here in the first place.) 

Perhaps this might not come as a shocking revelation to most of the Potato Nation, but Strikeforce is in some bad shape. Like, Bubba on the beaches of Vietnam kind of shape. Let’s put it this way, if we were gambling men, and someone were taking bets on its probable death, we’d bet everything we own on death.

What are we jawing on about? Well, the Nevada State Athletic Commission just released its figures for “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine” today, which took place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 7th, and the live gate for the event totaled LESS THAN HALF OF WHAT ROBBIE LAWLER WAS PAID TO FIGHT. As ridiculous as it may seem, Lawler did manage to knock out Aldan Amagov with the power of his testicles alone, so the somewhat exuberant compensation he received seems fair in this case. But boy does it not look good for Strikeforce.

Hauling in an abysmal 68,805 dollars, “Rockhold vs. Jardine” achieved a final attendance of just under 2000 (1992) with only 927 tickets sold. The other 1,065 tickets were comped, and 727 tickets remained unsold. The total fighter purse for this event was an even $566,000.

(Alistair Overeem vs. Junior Dos Santos fan-made trailer via TheAzyunyh4)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…

- Anthony Johnson Finds New Life at New Weight, Thanks in Part to ‘Blackzilians’ (MMA Fighting)

- Strikeforce Champ Luke Rockhold Suffers Broken Hand in Win Over Keith Jardine (MMA Mania)

- 50 Random MMA Facts You Never Knew (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Ronda Rousey on Cyborg: ‘I Always Knew She Was a Cheater’ (FightLine)

- Review: ‘Haywire’, Starring Gina Carano (MMA Convert)

- Atlanta to Host UFC 146 on April 21st (5th Round)

- A Running Journal of MTV’s ‘Caged’ (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Chael Sonnen: My MMA Career Will Be a Colossal Failure Without That 12 Pounds of Gold (Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com)

- Here’s Video of Keith Jardine’s Mom Confronting Luke Rockhold’s Brother After Strikeforce (MiddleEasy)

- Rampage and King Mo Still Want to Fight Each Other — Can the UFC Make It Happen? (The Fight Nerd)

- Is the Pro-Wrestling Influence in UFC Unattractive to Female Sports Fans? (Fight Opinion)

- Update on Zuffa vs. New York: NY Files Motion (MMA Payout)

(“Really? That’s it?”)

The Nevada State Athletic Commission  released the salary amounts from Saturday night’s Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine event at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and it appears that Robbie Lawler was the big winner of the night, taking home more than a quarter of the night’s $566,000 in total purses.

Lawler was paid a flat rate of $150,000 for his first-round TKO over Adian Amagov.

To put things into perspective, the total purse for UFC 141 was $1369714.28, or nearly two-and-a-half times as much.

Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal picked up the second highest paycheck of the night with $95,000 for his second round KO of Lorenz Larkin, while middleweight champ Luke Rockhold netted the night’s third highest amount with $90,000, including a $25,000 win bonus, for his first-round drubbing of Keith Jardine.

Tyron Woodley, whose conservative lay and pray victory over Canadian Jordan Mein, took home $60,000 for his non-performance — half of which was made up of a win bonus.

Check out what the other fighters on the card were paid after the jump.

(Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine full fight video via mmanewsdog)

In case you missed the show on Saturday night, take a look at the main card’s three knockouts. More after the jump…

Related:
- ‘Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine’ — Live Results + Commentary
- ‘Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine’ Aftermath: Going through the Motions, as Usual

In a disturbing instance of foreshadowing, Scott Coker waits way too long to intervene. Props: Five Ounces of Pain

We’ll be honest: It’s getting pretty hard to write Strikeforce aftermath articles anymore. With a Strikeforce event, you already know that the favorite is going to win. You already know that the champions have run out of legitimate challengers. Every aftermath piece we’ve written for a Strikeforce event since the UFC’s acquisition of the organization demonstrates this. Essentially, the organization is going through the motions, yet we have to find a way to write something original about it.

Heading into Rockhold vs. Jardine, it was pretty clear that the organization was giving Jardine a title shot out of convenience. He was healthy, available and had a name that fans recognized. Because Strikeforce isn’t planning on growing as an organization, those qualifications were enough to earn him a title shot against Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold, despite never having competed at middleweight before. The fight didn’t come off as a legitimate title fight- it came off as a litmus test for Rockhold.

Keith Jardine gave us the same performance that we’ve come to expect from him. His awkward movement and looping punches seemed to confuse Rockhold at first, but once Luke Rockhold managed to figure out Jardine’s style he controlled the fight. While looking like a guy who hadn’t weighed 185 pounds since the ninth grade didn’t help Keith Jardine’s cause, it’s hard to imagine that a less fatigued Dean of Mean would have done significantly better. Luke Rockhold is the younger, more diverse fighter. Jardine is the same fighter that had been figured out years ago, except now he’s in the twilight of his career. A prospect that’s ready for the big leagues can beat an opponent like Keith Jardine, and that’s exactly what Rockhold did.

(Worst. Charity bachelor auction. Ever. / Photo via Strikeforce)

Okay, let’s go through this one more time: Luke Rockhold is Strikeforce’s middleweight champion. Keith Jardine is the former UFC light-heavyweight contender who Rousey’d his way into a title shot at 185. They’ll be fighting in the main event of tonight’s Strikeforce card on Showtime. Also, King Mo returns against Lorenz “The Monsoon” Larkin, Robbie Lawler faces off against Russkie McFancykicks, and Jordan Mein will try to snap Tyron Woodley’s undefeated record with those bionic elbows of his.

I fully expect tonight’s liveblog turnout to be more of an “intimate” affair, but that doesn’t mean we won’t do our best to give you a good show. Round-by-round results from the “Rockhold vs. Jardine” main card broadcast will be piling up after the jump starting at 10 p.m. ET, courtesy of CagePotato liveblog up-and-comer Steve Silverman. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for coming, guys.

I’m sorry, is that Mauro Renallo or J.T.??? (Video: Youtube/AllElbows)

If you’ve been sleeping on tonight’s Strikeforce event, we’re not going to throw stones. When even the defending Middleweight Champion has trouble getting excited for his bout, how can you be expected to? And though the MMA world may be talking ‘Strikeforce’ this morning, it has very little to do with what’s going down at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino this evening.

But the truth is that Showtime subscribers (and you filthy, rotten streamers) can rightfully expect a night of action packed fights. This card has a great mix of seasoned veterans and wildly unorthodox strikers, and last night they all hit the scales. We won’t dangle any false promises of funny weigh-in costumes or pushing-and-shoving; there was little in the form of excitement at these proceedings. On the bright side, everyone (eventually) hit their mark.

Weigh-In results after the jump. Make sure you come back tonight—we’ll be liveblogging this card like nobody’s business.

(Props: YouTube.com/Strikeforce)

Strikeforce held a press conference yesterday plugging this weekend’s “Rockhold vs. Jardine” card at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Some highlights…

- Keith Jardine hasn’t weighed 185 pounds since the ninth grade.

- King Mo plans to “put them thangs” on Lorenz Larkin. Man, I hope that doesn’t mean what we think it means.

- Scott Coker thinks Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov won’t make it out of the second round. As usual, Lawler is as silent as a cigar-store Indian.

After the jump: A highlight reel of the fighters in action. The editor wisely chose to use a clip of Jardine’s TKO of Forrest Griffin from 2006 rather than his sole appearance in Strikeforce.

(Props: allelbows)

Four months after beating the Strikeforce middleweight belt off of Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Luke Rockhold returns to action this Saturday night in a title defense that even he isn’t that psyched about. But considering his 7-0 stretch under the Strikeforce banner — with six of those wins coming in the first round — it’s clear that Rockhold’s biggest accomplishments are still in front of him. If you’re not familiar with the AKA rising star, check out this “Fight Journal” video from allelbows, in which Rockhold makes some media rounds, discusses the downfall of Brock Lesnar, has a run-in with a very humble Keith Jardine, and shows how he puts his championship belt to sleep every night.

Okay, maybe it’s not the card of the year — and four of the five matches are undeniable squash matches — but if you’ll be around on Saturday, come by for our liveblog of the Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine Showtime broadcast, starting at 10 p.m. ET.

(Pat Barry lets a seven-year-old haul off on his face for four minutes. This is basically what I imagine Pat’s sparring sessions with Brock Lesnar looked like. Props: LIAM_B)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…

- Tito Ortiz Says His Final MMA Fight Will Take Place in July, Possibly Against Forrest Griffin (MiddleEasy)

- Lyoto Machida Undergoes Successful Surgery, Calls Out Chael Sonnen (MMA Fighting)

- Jim Ross: Brock Lesnar Returning to the WWE Simply Isn’t Happening (MMA Mania)

- Top 10 Best Fights From the UFC in 2011 (The Fight Nerd)

- Luke Rockhold: Keith Jardine Does Not Deserve a Title Shot (Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com)

- FightLine Exclusive Interview With Karo Parisyan (FightLine)

- Michael Schiavello Rips Fedor Emelianenko and M-1 Global for ‘Diva’ Behavior (5th Round)

- UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit Gets UFC Primetime Treatment (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Strikeforce: Robbie Lawler’s 10 Greatest Fights (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Five Big Items of Fallout From MMA’s Two NYE Shows (Fight Opinion)

- UFC for XBox Live a Dud in Debut (MMA Payout)

- A Viking Send-Off for Brock Lesnar (MMA Convert)

(Unlicensed plastic surgery: It rarely works out the way you want it to.)

As we mentioned yesterday, Strikeforce is clinging on to life despite the fact that their biggest stars have either been poached or are on hiatus from fighting, and their championship belts now have less legitimacy than that chick’s doo-doo back tattoo. So how sketchy have things gotten over there? This sketchy:

Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is slated to defend his belt against former UFC veteran Keith Jardine on Jan. 7, MMA Fighting has confirmed with sources close to the fight. The title fight is expected to headline the organization’s first event at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino…Rockhold was expected to meet Tim Kennedy in his first title defense, but according to sources, Kennedy couldn’t commit to the fight due to an undisclosed injury.

(Photos: MMAMania.com & CombatLifestyle.com)

It looks like all of the circumstantial evidence suggesting that Tim Kennedy was packing his rucksack and heading to the UFC was a false alarm. That, or Zuffa realized that Strikeforce’s middleweight herd was thin on credible challengers and decided to keep their most decorated fighter on the roster for a bit longer. Tatame.com reports that the bout is likely to take place in January of next year.

Luke Rockhold returned to action last September, shaking off seventeen months of ring rust in a title bout with Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Ronaldo Souza. Rockhold was predictably a massive underdog, but he got the better of “Jacare” throughout the five round affair and took the belt in a unanimous decision. That “W” marked Rockhold’s seventh straight victory.

Kennedy was unsuccessful in his own title bid against Jacare last October, taking the champ the distance but coming up short on all three judges’ scorecards. Since then he’s racked up wins over Melvin Manhoef and Robbie Lawler.

This is second time the pair has been scheduled to fight. Their original bout was scrapped back in February when Rockhold suffered a leg injury in training.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/ClinchGear)

In a recent interview Dana White did with 5thRound.com, the UFC president clarified that Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson will now be fighting exclusively for the UFC, which has led to even more speculation about the future of the promotion that was bought by Zuffa earlier this year. Since acquiring Strikeforce the UFC has picked clean the lion’s share of the promotion’s marquee talent, including Henderson and two of its other six remaining champions, Nick Diaz and Alistair Overeem.

King Mo, during the UFC application process post-fight interview. Props: Showtime Sports

Last night, the real story behind “Barnet vs. Kharitonov had nothing to do with the heavyweight grand prix. It had nothing to do with the middleweight championship of a sinking organization. Last night, as with every other Strikeforce show since the promotion was purchased by Zuffa, was little more than an audition. It was about who will get a UFC contract when Strikeforce goes under, and who will have to go through TUF. The fans knew it, the announcers knew it, going as far as confirming the Belfort vs. Le rumor, and the fighters definitely knew it.

Despite Strikeforce’s best efforts to hype Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov as a potentially close fight, we all knew what to expect: A repeat of Kharitonov vs. Monson, except with a far superior version of Jeff Monson. Because of this, it’s hard to be impressed with anything that Josh Barnett does at this point. The tournament’s biggest names and most intriguing matchups for Barnett- Fedor, Werdum and Overeem- were all removed well before last night. Barnett has become such an overwhelming favorite to win that when he wins, he’s simply living up to expectations. He was paired up against an opponent with weak grappling credentials, knew he would dominate the fight once Kharitonov was on the ground, and fought accordingly. At least the tournament was set up so that he would get to face a competent grappler in the finals.

(Dan Cormier does a dead-on impression of how his face is going to look after he gets hit with one of those fists. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)

Tonight, four big-ass dudes become two, and we mean that in the straightest way possible. Strikeforce’s lovably meaningless heavyweight tournament reaches its semi-final phase tonight at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cicinnati, Ohio, supported by a middleweight title fight and a compelling light-heavyweight feature between Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal and Roger Gracie.

Round-by-round results for the “Barnett vs. Kharitonov” Showtime main card will be piling up after the jump starting at 10:30 p.m. ET. CagePotato liveblog-mercenary Matt Kaplan will be handling business tonight, so please make him feel welcome, and refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

VidProps: BloodstreamMMA100/YouTube

Strikeforce is forging ahead with this crazy “Grand Prix” gimmick — no telling how they came up with a concept like that, but props to them — and the semifinals could go down in September. If everything goes according to plan, the event should be packed with good matchups. Let’s take a look.

The heavyweight GP will continue with Alistair Overeem squaring off with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, and “War Master” Josh Barnett against “The Russian Concussion” Sergei Kharitonov. Those two fights alone would be enough to carry a card, but Coker and company want to make it worth your while to watch, so they’ve continued to put together bouts with an eye on producing a blockbuster.

Every other bout currently rumored for the show features a current or former champion for the Strikeforce banner, including a title match for current middleweight champ “Jacare” Souza.

(Best finish of the night: Luke Rockhold vs. Paul Bradley)

Takayo Hashi may have been touted as the second-best 135-pound female fighter in the world coming into her title fight against Sarah Kaufman at last night’s Strikeforce Challengers event in San Jose, but for most of the five-round contest she looked woefully outmatched. Kaufman’s superior standup ruled the night, as the undefeated Canadian — and new "welterweight" women’s champion of Strikeforce — dropped Hashi twice in the first round, and spent the rest of the fight chasing the Japanese grappling specialist around the cage, landing punches whenever she was in range.

Kaufman successfully avoided the occasional takedown and submission attempts from her opponent, and outside of a teep kick that found its mark on her face in the final frame, she made it through all 25 minutes relatively untouched. After the fight’s conclusion — a 50-45 decision on all three judges’ scorecards — Kaufman apologized to the fans for her inability to finish Hashi, and generously credited Hashi’s constant movement: "It was really hard to get a lot of clean shots on her consecutively,” Kaufman said. “I would have loved to have finished the fight, but I couldn’t have done any more than I did.”