(photo via Sherdog.com)
The hype behind Bobby Lashley (5-1) was pretty much all but deflated after his loss to Chad Griggs at the Strikeforce: Houston event this past August. Many were waiting for the TNA wrestler to fall and rejoiced as Lashley quickly gassed out in the first round against Griggs.

Lashley has come out to explain his side of the fight as well as his poor performance from that night.

On Monday, Lashley was a guest on “The MMA Hour” over at MMAFighting.com. During the segment Lashley goes on to say that his health was not 100% going into the fight, and that if it was, he would have defeated Griggs easily.

Just two days before the fight, Lashley says he was admitted to hospital for dehydration, and that blood work done while in hospital after his loss, showed that he was suffering from mononucleosis. Lashley say’s he’s better and already looking to return in 2010, looking for a rematch with Griggs. Now that the pressure of being undefeated is off he can concentrate on fighting.

“I already asked for a rematch, because when you have certain events like I did that sort of hindered me from being able to open up and fight, I’ve got to go back. I’d hate for them to use that fight to boost somebody’s career, saying, ‘Okay, he beat Bobby,’ because that wasn’t really the case. If I didn’t have these problems, and I’d been able to go out there and fight, I think it would have been a pretty quick win for me. But I just didn’t have anything in me.”

“Now I’m just going to go out there and fight. I’m not going to have any pressure on me. If they want to keep that as a loss, then keep that as a loss so I have a loss, because now I’m just going to go out there and fight. Because once you have a loss, you’re not undefeated anymore so now I don’t have to worry about that. So I can just go out there and fight.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mauro Ranallo was the former announcer for PRIDE FC and is the current announcer for Showtime.

Ranallo sat down with MMAFighting.com just before the Strikeforce: Houston event to talk about some of the high’s and lows of his career.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ratings for this past Saturday's "Strikeforce: Houston" event are in, and the Showtime-televised event peaked with an audience of nearly a half-million viewers.

MMAjunkie.com today confirmed the first-run ratings with an industry source.

Overall, the event, which took place Aug. 21 at the Toyota Center in Houston and marked Strikeforce's Texas debut, averaged 367,000 viewers.

HOUSTON - Despite a recent Twitter message to the contrary, Strikeforce welterweight Jay Hieron is not a free agent just yet.

Early Saturday morning, Hieron stated he had "finally got my release from [Strikeforce]," which prompted speculation of a potential move to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

But following Saturday's Showtime-televised "Strikeforce: Houston" event in Texas, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told MMAjunkie.com that's not exactly the case.

HOUSTON - Fighters from Saturday's "Strikeforce: Houston" event did not undergo typical fight-night drug testing.

The Aug. 21 event, held at the Toyota Center in Houston, fell under the regulatory oversight of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The commission typically doesn't conduct testing despite regulating more MMA events than 74 of North America's 76 athletic commissions in 2009.

After the show, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told MMAjunkie.com that the organization didn't request testing or implement its own.

HOUSTON - MMAjunkie.com is on scene and reporting live from tonight's "Strikeforce: Houston" event.

Tonight's show takes place at the Toyota Center in Texas, and the night's main card
airs on Showtime.

Follow along with our round-by-round updates and official results beginning at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. CT local time) for the preliminary card and 10 p.m. ET for the main card.

HOUSTON - MMAjunkie.com is on scene and reporting live from tonight's "Strikeforce: Houston" event at the Toyota Center in Texas.

Be sure to follow along with the latest card updates in our live results post, and then discuss the event in the comments section below.

We'll provide live round-by-round coverage and official results from the night's preliminary card beginning at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. CT local time) and the night's main card at 10 p.m. ET.

MMAjunkie.com Radio today welcomes to the show Anthony Njokuani, who fights Maciej Jewtuszko at Wednesday's WEC 50 event, and newly crowned King of the Cage heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier, who fights at Saturday's "Strikeforce: Houston" event.

Additionally, veteran cutman Jacob "Stitch" Duran joins us an in-studio guest host.

MMAjunkie.com Radio airs from 12-2 p.m. ET (9-11 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino's Race & Sports Book. Listen to and watch a video stream of the two-hour show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

The fight card for Saturday's "Strikeforce: Houston" event is now set,
and a handful of notables are part of the night's untelevised
preliminary card.

The event takes place Aug. 21 at Houston's Toyota Center and features two title fights on the Showtime-televised main card.

Texas fans, though, will be treated to one of the organization's deeper
preliminary cards; MMAjunkie.com recently confirmed the seven-fight
preliminary card with Strikeforce officials.

Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante has long stood in the shadows of his famous teammates, but he's about to step into the spotlight.

The 30-year-old light heavyweight feels it's all of his life experiences
which have led him to the biggest opportunity of his career and not
just his six years in the fight game.

When he meets Strikeforce champion Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal in the main event of the Aug. 21 "Strikeforce: Houston" event, he says
he'll be well-prepared to show how far he's come.