As "The Ultimate Fighter" and Fight Night shows have provided a spring board for budding stars to hone their talents in preparation for Prime Time competition overseas, on pay-per-views and viable contenders, the San Jose based organization Strikeforce, has been taking notes. Gearing up for their eleventh rendition of the popular "Strikeforce: Challenger Series" set for October 22 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, the promotion is adding possibly one their largest cards (for a challenger series) to the fold of Strikeforce events. ...

Strikeforce lightweight title contender Billy Evangelista (9-1) defeated Jorge Gurgel (13-6) in a unanimous decision by judges' scores of 30-27 twice and 29-28 once at Strikeforce Challenger Series 4 in Fresno Friday night. ...

"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. ...

Strikeforce announced Tuesday that lightweight Billy Evangelista (6-0) and Nam Phan (14-4) will fight on the undercard of 27 June's San Jose card. "It should be a great matchup," said Phan on Strikeforce's website.  "I know [Evangelista] is pretty good at wrestling and OK at jiu-jitsu and he’s got great Muay Thai." Evangelista admitted, "I don’t really have a game plan for Nam Phan and I’ve never seen him fight.  I just need to be prepared for anything that comes." Phan dealt Saad Awad (1-1) his first loss in February by second-round TKO. Of Phan's four losses, three are to Fighters.com's third-ranked lightweight "JZ" Gesias Calvancante (14-2-1), top Strikeforce lightweight contender "Punk" Josh Thomson (14-2), and former WEC Lightweight Champ "Razor" Rob McCullough (15-4) respectively. Undefeated Evangelista last kayoed Marlon Sims (3-3) in March and will step-up in competition versus Phan. ...

Top Strikeforce welterweight contender Drew Fickett (33-5) locked in his title bid versus champ Jake Shields (20-4-1) in the form of a guillotine choke around the neck of intended Nick Diaz (15-7) opponent "The Korean Icepick" Jae Suk Lim (9-4) at 1:14 of the first round in San Jose Saturday night. Fickett was signed to challenge Shields on tonight's Showtime-televised card; but, Shields injured his back heaving a sledgehammer during training. Fickett drew Lim after Shields's partner, Diaz, was denied a license by the California State Athletic Board. The title fight has reportedly been rescheduled for 14 June in Hawaii. The absence of Shields and Diaz, popular Nor Cal warriors,  agitated thousands of hungry fight aficionados at HP Pavilion. They packed in to feast on a middleweight mixed martial arts title fight between Strikeforce champion Frank Shamrock (24-9-1) and Cung Le (6-0), heroes from opposite sides of the Capital of Silicon Valley. What they were fed was two-and-a-half rounds of brisk San Shou sparring and two-and-a-half minutes of MMA. Le remained undefeated when Shamrock quit with a broken arm after the third round, relinquishing his belt to the Vietnamese kung-fu stylist.  "He kept blocking," Le explained,  "so I kept aiming at that part of the wrist." With local street cred on the table, both fighters answered the opening bell cautious of the other's prowess. Shamrock circled in a crouching stance while pumping a lazy jab in Le's general direction, while Le waltzed warily from a safe range. When the hammer did fall, beginning with a Shamrock kick to Le's midsection countered by a Le left hand, it was in single-strike spurts followed by congratulatory high fives. They grinned at each one-off as the crowd chanted "Boring!" Shamrock closed round one with a knee busting Le's lip, but lost the round in range of Le's snapping kicks. Le opened the second frame knocking Shamrock's mouthpiece out with a left high kick. As Le learned Shamrock wasn't interested in taking him to the mat, he became more comfortable launching left and right middle kicks to setup punches to Shamrock's head, catching Shamrock with a right hook towards the round's final bell. Le topped Shamrock in round two as well. Midway through the third round, a fight broke out and the champion and challenger traded flurries against the cage. A hard left kick to Shamrock's core backed the champion into the fence and Le followed with a spinning back fist as Shamrock advanced. Shamrock walked through the worst of Le's attack and pounded punches in a flurry marked by a right fist that staggered Le against the cage. Le countered with another lightning strike body kick followed by a flurry of hooks as the bell signaled an end to the round and, as Shamrock chose not to answer the fourth round's bell, the end of the fight. "This is a dream come true," Le said after the fight.  "Coming from Vietnam under gunfire and now world champion, I love it." In undercard action, top ten lightweight "El Niño" Gilbert Melendez (14-1) shook-up and opened the anticipated can of whoop ass on last minute opponent Gabe Lemley (11-7). Referee Herb Dean showed mercy on the seemingly awe-struck Iowan and called an end to Melendez's G'n'P onslaught at 2:18 of the second round. Melendez returned like a typhoon from a loss to "The Endless Warrior" Mitsuhiro Ishida (16-3-1) in Japan, the first of "El Niño's" career. Strikeforce newbie Wayne Cole (11-6) surprised "MAK" Mike Kyle (9-7-1) in an armbar 45-seconds after the opening bell. Kyle, win-less since 2005, was rusty from a two-year absence from professional competition. In a sloppy, but entertaining 4:45 minute punch-up, middleweight Joey Villasenor (25-6) of Jackson's Submission Fighting popped late replacement Ryan Jensen (11-4) with a right hand, knocking the former UFC fighter out in his third consecutive first-round stoppage loss (all against tough competition). Team Oyama welterweight Tiki Ghosn's (10-7) takedown defence kept his scrap with young Luke Stewart (5-1) where Ghosn could pick at Stewart's stand-up.  The veteran nickle-and-dimed his way to a unanimous decision of 29-28 twice and 30-27. Stewart picks up his first "L" after five stoppage wins, all in Strikeforce affairs. Team USA grappler Darren Uyenoyama (4-1) broke bantamweight Strikeforce regular Anthony Figueroa's (4-2) two-fight win streak by sweeping from half guard into a guillotine choke, enticing the tap at 1:27 of the first frame. Undefeated Jesse Jones (2-0) exposed Jesse Gillespie (1-1), transitioning in back control from a rear naked choke to G'n'P for a 35-second TKO. Lightweight Billy Evangelista (6-0) knocked out Marlon Sims (3-3) at :39 of the third round to end the night. ...