Playboy Mansion

(Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Justin Wilcox; props to MMA Root)

Last night's Strikeforce card at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills featured two Japanese stars making successful debuts for the organization, lightweight champ Josh Thomson easily winning his squash match, and impressive performances by Terry Martin, Trevor Prangley, and Luke Stewart. In the night's main event, #9-ranked middleweight Kazuo Misaki went toe-to-toe with Joe Riggs, with both fighters hesitant to engage in the first round. Riggs dropped Misaki with a straight left in the second, but Misaki hopped back up and connected with a straight right that sent Riggs to the mat. Misaki threw down blows from above until referee Josh Rosenthal declared it a TKO; Riggs immediately complained about the stoppage, despite Rosenthal's repeated (and unanswered) warnings for Riggs to improve his position.

In a relatively pointless non-title fight, Josh Thomson disposed of Lion's Den product Ashe Bowman in just over a minute. Aside from a stiff overhand right from Bowman that landed flush on Thomson's chin, the match belonged to The Punk, who swarmed his opponent with punches to end the match. His victory sets up a future match with Shooto/PRIDE/Dream vet Mitsuhiro Ishida, who won his Strikeforce debut last night with a submission over the far-outmatched Justin Wilcox. See the above video for Ishida's unbelievable transition from kimura to armbar (2:36-2:42), which apparently didn't feel very pleasant for Wilcox.

Full results and video of the Thomson/Bowman fight after the jump.

(Babalu's mugshot, because why not.)

For the second time in the organization's history, Strikeforce will host an MMA event in the posh and jiggly confines of the Playboy Mansion. According to a newly distributed press release, the fight club will return to Beverly Hills on September 20th for a ten-bout card that will be headlined by a light heavyweight title match between Strikeforce champion Bobby Southworth (who last defended his belt in a five-round snoozer with Anthony Ruiz in June) and challenger Renato “Babalu” Sobral, who recently defeated Mike Whitehead via decision at Affliction: Banned. Said Sobral: "He is the protector and I am the hunter. I am already in shape and prepared to take it from him. I want to be the new Strikeforce world champion and if I could become champion while fighting at a venue like the Playboy Mansion, that would make a good win even better.”

Also on the card is Josh "The Punk" Thomson defending his lightweight scrap against an opponent to be announced later, and a middleweight feature between highly regarded Pancrase/PRIDE/Sengoku vet Kazuo Misaki and Joe "Diesel" Riggs (whose last Strikeforce appearance didn't go so well). And if that weren't enough to convince you: