After eight minutes of action Alvin Cacdac (4-4) submitted Jose Palacios (1-2) with a rear naked choke at Strikeforce: Destruction Friday night in San Jose. Both fighters looked strong in round one.  Palacios landed a left kick, then ate a high right kick from Cacdac.  Palacios tripped Cacdac and was able to get side control.  He attempted to get the full mount but Cacdac flipped him and landed in Palacios’s guard as the horn went. The fight ended in round two, after Cacdac stood up out of Palacios’s attempted triangle.  Palacios tried to throw Cacdac, but ended up with Cacdac in his guard.  Palacios gave his back trying to escape and Cacdac took it, sinking a rear naked choke and forcing Palacios to tap at 3:10 of round two. ...

Fighters.com was live at the Strikeforce: Destruction weigh-ins Thursday night at the Hotel DeAnza in San Jose. All fighters made weigh and, despite a delayed start and “Diesel” Joe Riggs’s (28-11) displeasure at having to strip, everything went smoothly. Riggs was not the only one who had to strip further than his ginch; the California State Athletic Commission requested that each fighter have only one crack at the scale, resulting in several weigh-ins behind towels. Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Bobby Southworth (9-4) looked cut.  He told Fighters.com Thursday afternoon that he had hired a new strength and conditioning coach. “Everybody’s been commenting on how my physique looks and how I’ve been performing.  So we’ll see how I perform tomorrow night,” Southworth said. Join Fighters.com Friday night for the live results. ...

"Punk" Josh Thomson (15-2) won a five-round unanimous decision over "El Niño" Gilbert Melendez (14-2) for the Strikeforce lightweight title Friday night in San Jose by scores of 50-45 on all three cards. "[Melendez] is the toughest motherfucker I've ever fought," Thomson declared after dominating the former top ten 155-pounder. In the final round, Thomson landed a front kick to Melendez's face as if to say, "All night, Gil" All night, Thomson kept Melendez at bay with a front kick. And, when Melendez passed that, he got zapped with a jab, and a hammered with a knee after that. Melendez stalked for five rounds, right hand cocked; but, Thomson never set long enough for Melendez to get a beat on him with his knockout punch. In the fourth and fifth rounds, Thomson shot and scored takedowns, nearly finding a rear naked choke as the fourth round dinged closed. But, Melendez was just out-kickboxed in every round and gassed trying to corner Thomson for the big shot. Stack Attacks Palacios Crowd favorite Bobby Stack (5-1) out-wrestled lightweight San Shou fighter Jose Palacios (3-1) over three rounds for a UD by scores of 29-28 three times. The southpaw Palacios's right hook over Stack's jab convinced Stack to take the fight to the mat after that punch popped Stack's mouthpiece free in the first round. Stack took damage for the single-leg shots, but muscled Palacios down and nearly sank an armbar with 25 seconds left in round two. Stack declined the stand-up again in the third session and rode Palacios across the mat most of the round, though Palacios defended adeptly. The "W" was sealed in the last half of the round when Stack mounted and landed shots to Palcios's head. ...