In his final fight before a scheduled one-year jailing, War Machine takes on fellow UFC veteran John Alessio in the co-main-event of "Tachi Palace Fights 5: Stars and Strikes."

A source close to the fighter today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com that Brad Blackburn, who originally was slated to fight Alessio, was forced off the card with an undisclosed injury.

TPF 5 takes place July 9 at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif.

A highly anticipated welterweight rematch between top contenders Thiago
Alves and Jon Fitch is finally
official.

UFC officials announced that the long-rumored and previously scheduled
bout will enjoy co-main event status at August's UFC 117.

Featuring a middleweight title fight between current champion Anderson
Silva and top contender Chael Sonnen, UFC 117 takes place Aug. 7 in
Oakland, Calif. The main card airs live on pay-per-view.

A highly anticipated welterweight rematch between top contenders Thiago
Alves and Jon Fitch is finally
official.

UFC officials announced that the long-rumored and previously scheduled
bout will enjoy co-main event status at August's UFC 117.

Featuring a middleweight title fight between current champion Anderson
Silva and top contender Chael Sonnen, UFC 117 takes place Aug. 7 in
Oakland, Calif. The main card airs live on pay-per-view.

What's surely to be remembered as one of the year's most monumental events can be watched again tonight.

"Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum" originally took place Saturday at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

The replay, including a heavyweight headliner of Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum, airs tonight on SHO 2 and SHO 2 HD at 10 p.m. ET/PT

During the Saturday night’s post fight press conference for “Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum”, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker announced the gate totals for the event.

A total of 12,698 fans witnessed history as Fabricio Werdum handed Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko his first loss in ten years. Those fans brought in a total of $1,066,739 at the gate which will be confirmed in the coming days by the California State Athletic Commission.

The attendance record ranks number six among Strikeforce events held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. Number one is held by “Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Gracie” which happened in March 2006 brought in 18,265 fans.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Midway through the third round of his fight with Pat Healy, former Strikeforce champ Josh Thomson had something of a surreal moment.

Fatigued from two exhausting rounds and aching from a couple broken ribs from early in the fight, Thomson saw his career flash before his eyes, and a single thought kept racing through his mind.

"'I shouldn't be losing this fight,'" Thomson said.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(video via MMAFighting.com)

One of the original greats of mixed martial arts, Frank Shamrock announced his retirement during Saturday night’s Showtime broadcast of “Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum” event at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

“When I was 22 years old, my brother gave me two important things,” Shamrock told the audience at the HP Pavilion after entering the cage. “He gave me an ass-whoopin’ and he gave me my love of mixed martial arts. Since that time I’ve traveled the world teaching mixed martial arts, preaching mixed martial arts and dragging my poor family with me from country to country to city to city.”

“I’m 37 years old now, and my time has come,” he said Saturday. “The stars like Gilbert Melendez and Cristiane ‘Cyborg,’ they’re the future and I am the past. Tonight I announce my retirement. This will be the last time I walk into this cage as a fighter.”

“It was an honor to bleed for you,” he said, “to break my bones for you and to entertain you.”

The 37 year old fighter began his pro career in 1994 and earned an interim title with the Japanese-based Pancrase promotion by defeating Bas Rutten. He became the UFC’s first middleweight (later renamed light-heavyweight) champion after Kevin Jackson at UFC Japan in 1997 and defended that title four times. One of those bouts was against Tito Ortiz and happened at UFC 22 and will be remembered as one of the great mma matches of the past. He went on to leave the UFC and earn the WEC light-heavyweight title, and became Strikeforce’s first middleweight title holder.

After amassing a 23-10-2 record over the past 16 years, Shamrock felt that he’s had enough of competing in the cage and will now work as a broadcaster for Showtime among other ventures.

HT: Sherdog.com for the quotes.

Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem jumped on the plane at the last minute and commuted 20 hours to get to San Jose, Calif. in the hopes of watching Fedor Emelianenko defeat Fabricio Werdum. Minutes after Werdum submitted the Russian fighter, MMAWeekly.com talked to Overeem about his reactions to the fight.

(this photo and more can be found at Strikeforce.com)
Press Release

Catch Replay On Monday, June 28, 2010, At 10 P.M. ET/PT On SHOWTIME 2

SAN JOSE, Calif. (June 27, 2010) – On a historic night of Mixed Martial arts presented by STRIKEFORCE and M-1 GLOBAL and televised on SHOWTIME®, two-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum (14-4) registered the most spectacular upset in MMA history with a 1:09, first-round submission (triangle choke) over the world’s No. 1 heavyweight and pound-for-pound fighter, Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko (31-2) before 12,649 Saturday at HP Pavilion.

Fedor, a six-footer, had Werdum in trouble in the opening moments after dropping him with a right uppercut that was followed with several more punches. But from his back, Werdum, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and member of Brazil’s vaunted Chute Boxe fight squad, got Fedor into a combination triangle- and arm-choke. Within seconds, the fight was over. The famed Fedor had tapped out.

“I am so very, very happy,’’ the six-foot-four Werdum said. “He is such a strong man. He is a great fighter. I would be glad to fight him again.’’

It was the first “legitimate’’ defeat in Fedor’s legendary career. His other loss, while official, came as a result of a disputed doctor stoppage due to a cut he sustained seconds into a matchup with Japan’s Tsuyoshi Kosaka on Dec. 22, 2000.

“One that doesn’t fall doesn’t stand up. I was concentrating on the strikes and made a mistake,’’ Fedor said. “I will have to go back and analyze what happened.’’

Saturday marked the first time in MMA history, the No. 1 male and female fighters in the world fought in the same cage on the same night.

While Fedor failed in a stunning shocker, the top women’s fighter, Cris Cyborg (10-1) of Curitibia, Brazil, was her usual brutal self as she retained the STRIKEFORCE Women’s World Middleweight (145 pounds) title with a dominant second-round (2:27) knockout (strikes) over game, determined challenger, Jan Finney (8-8) of Springfield, Ohio, in one of the featured fights on SHOWTIME.

In other televised fights, former STRIKEFORCE middleweight champion and hometown favorite, southpaw Cung Le (17-3) of San Jose, convincingly stopped Scott “Hands Of Steel’’ Smith (18-7) of Elk Grove, Calif., at 1:46 in the second round; and popular, local fan favorite and former STRIKEFORCE world lightweight belt-holder Josh “The Punk’’ Thomson (17-3), of San Jose, turned back a determined bid of Pat “Bam Bam’’ Healy (23-16) of Portland, Ore., to score a hard-fought, third-round submission. A tight, even fight ended via rear-naked choke at 4:27.

In an emotional moment midway through the telecast, MMA pioneer and San Jose’s original favorite MMA son, Frank “The Legend’’ Shamrock, made one last walk down the ramp, in a suit, no less, and into the cage where he formally announced his retirement.

As the respectful fans stood and listened in appreciation, Shamrock, who is an expert analyst for SHOWTIME MMA telecasts, took the microphone, surrounded by family, promoters and executives, and said: “I’m 37. My time has come. Tonight, I announce my retirement. Tonight, I enter the cage for the last time as a fighter. I want to thank the people, my friend and an honest promoter, Scott Coker, for always keeping his word. In 2006, I threw one punch and STRIKEFORCE was born. Again, I want to thank all the people, the HP Pavilion and my family who put up with my craziness that was MMA. You, the fans were there when I won, and when I lost, and it was an honor for me to bleed and to break bones and entertain you.’’

Shamrock then slowly bowed to each side of the cage, precipitating one final roar of cheers from those in attendance.

By defeating Fedor, Werdum’s record now against the Emelianenko’s is 2-0. On Nov. 26, 2006, Werdum submitted Fedor’s brother, Aleksander, via arm triangle choke at 3:24 in the first round in Rotterdam, Holland.

Werdum may also have earned an immediate shot at STRIKEFORCE heavyweight world champion, Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem, whom he’s already defeated once. “I am ready to fight anybody,’’ Werdum said.

Cyborg, who had a meaningless point deducted for hitting behind the head in the opening round, praised Finney, who went down several times, but felt the fight could have been halted earlier.

“I was really surprised the fight wasn’t stopped in the first round,’’ said Cyborg after her 10th consecutive victory. “I know she was trying hard, but I could tell I was hurting her, especially when she was down and covering up like she was. But it is my job to keep fighting until the fight is over.’’

Cyborg was crowned the first STRIKEFORCE women’s champion in history on Aug. 15, 2009, after she stopped Gina Carano in the first round at HP Pavilion.

Finney fought as hard as anyone could expect and, true to her word, kept firing back.

“I think this, being a world title fight, could have gone on a little longer,’’ she said. “If I was really hurt, I would have tapped.’’

Southpaw Le, who had dominated Smith before getting stopped last Dec. 19, left little to doubt this time around. A spinning leg kick to the body dropped Smith and after a succession of punches, the referee stepped in. Afterward, an ecstatic Le back-flipped out.

“I want to thank Scott Coker and SHOWTIME. I know what happened last time and was determined not to have it happen again. I knew I was in shape. I was pushed really hard during training. I was totally focused. I didn’t eat pizza. I didn’t eat chocolate for six or seven weeks.

“If Scott Coker wants a rubber match, that would be fine with me. Last time was Scott (Smith’s) night. This was my night. I am the one standing.’’

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The on-again, off-again relationship between
Strikeforce and female slugger Erin Toughill is
apparently in good standing.

Following Strikeforce female champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos' utter
destruction of Jan Finney on the main card of Saturday's "Strikeforce
and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum" event, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker
said Toughill will provide the Brazilian's next challenge
provided she wins in a yet-to-be announced late summer tune-up.

"Erin Toughill is someone we're going to invite into the cage to fight
here," Coker said. "Before the end of the year, you'll see 'Cyborg' and
her in the cage."