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.

In what was a popular fight in its first go around, the California promotion would like to try their hands at it once again when they pit undefeated welterweight prospect Roger Bowling against Bobby Voelker.

The two met before last May at the Strikeforce Challenger Series 8 event, where after two dominant but competitive rounds turned in by Bowling, an inadvertent eye poke in the third round would call a halt to the bout. Since the fight went to the third round, the decision was rendered to go to a technical decision, and thus Bowles was awarded the sort-of-unanimous-decision victory.

While the bout ended in somewhat controversial fashion, Strikefrce execs opted for a rematch to grace the card once again on October 22, in what is sure to be fireworks once again.

The previously announced return of heavyweight slugger Lavar Johnson is also set for the night. While no opponent has been named yet, which is in true Strikeforce fashion, Lavar will be an almost immovable force in his division. Lavar is on the heels of a 6-fight win streak that dates back to 2008–all of which come by some form of knockout, 5 of which came in the first round.

It seemed unlikely at one point that Johnson would return to the cage, after becoming the victim of a random act of violence, where he along with several other family members were shot in July 4 of last year. One relative did not survive, and Lavar looked to be in dire straits as well. However after several surgeries to his abdomen and chest (from where he was shot), Johnson pulled through after an unlikely recovery where his condition was deemed critical in some instances.

Following the shooting, he came back 8 months after the shooting and defeated Lolohea Mahe via TKO in the second round, at the “Strikeforce: Challenger Series 7″ card in March.

Billy Evangelista, a budding and undefeated lightweight contender in Strikeforce, is set to make his return as well after a near year-long-layoff. Last in action in a victory of Jorge Gurgel in November of last year–which moved his record to 10-0-1 (1 no contest)–has since been battling injuries, however will be returning to form (hopefully) when he meets King of the Cage veteran Waachiim “Native Warrior” Spiritwolf at a catch-weight of 165 pounds.

So, MMA peeps, what do you think of the night of fights presented by Strikeforce? Let your opinions on the card be known in the comments section below.

The fighters exchanged punches from the opening of round one before Evangelista suddenly took Gurgel to the ground. In response during the final seconds of round two, Gurgel landed a powerful left kick sending Evangelista to the mat. Gurgel almost landed a guillotine choke on Evangelista, but the local favorite escaped during the remaining seconds.

The final round was a back-and-forth affair, but Evangelista pulled through and earned a lightweight title shot.

Following the fight, a disappointed Gurgel stated, “The guy is tough. I have to take my hat off to him.”

In another exciting fight, heavyweight Shane Del Rosario (7-0) defeated local fighter “Cash Money” Brandon Cash (4-1) with a first round submission.

During the third televised fight on Showtime, middleweight Luke Rockhold (6-1) defeated Jesse Taylor (9-4) with a rear naked choke in the first round. The referee called the fight at 3:42 of the round one.

Merritt Warren (2-4) defeated Thomas Diagne (0-1) via heel hook in a lightning fast affair. Warren quickly caught Diagne in the submission forcing the French San Shou champion to tap at 3:49 of the opening round.

“[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.

Phan Robbed

Lightweight Nam Phan (14-4) got robbed in a split decision loss to Billy Evangelista (7-0) by scores 29-28 twice for Evangelista and 29-28 once for Phan.

Evangelista certainly dominated the first round, taking Phan to the mat against the cage and dribbling his head off the mat.

But, Phan fed Evangelista a steady diet of overhand rights for the final two rounds, mixing in a body kick and knees.

Evangelista couldn’t nail the same takedown the rest of the fight, taking an elbow that split his head in a stuffed second-round takedown attempt.

Evangelista’s head was the only thing split about the fight.

Fighters.com scored it 29-28 for Phan.

Southworth Defends

Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Bobby Southworth (9-5) remains controversial even after his first-season The Ultimate Fighter run.

During his cage entrance, his hometown crowd in San Jose Friday night couldn’t even decide whether to boo or cheer the AKA fighter.

They did both.

He also remains the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion by five-round unanimous decision over “El Torro” Anthony Ruiz (20-11) by scores of 50-45, 49-46, and 48-47.

After the 25-minute back-and-forth roll on the mat, the controversy subsided, but not in Southworth’s favor as the crowd pelted the champion with boos.

“This is my cage! This is my belt!” Southworth announced after his victory over the fighter who had TKO’d him due to a cut last November.

Southworth dominated the slog, attempting a rear naked choke, armbar, omoplata, and triangle choke in the first round alone.

But, both fighters had emptied their tank near the end of round two and the rest was a sloppy tussle.

Still, Southworth caught a second wind in the fourth and rattled Ruiz with an uppercut/knee combo underneath a Ruiz haymaker.

Later in the round, Southworth had a Kimura held tight, but was too weak to turn Ruiz’s arm over to his back.

Ruiz wrote-in a bit of fifth-round drama when he locked in a guillotine, but was also too weak and Southworth too slippery to finish the technique.

Fighters.com scored the “W” for Southworth by 50-45.

Cariaso Dominates Figueroa

It was a feat for bantamweight Anthony Figueroa (4-3) to survive to 4:34 of round two versus Chris Cariaso (7-1), who submitted Figueroa by rear naked choke.

Cariaso plopped Figueroa on the mat three times over the two rounds; but, it only took once in the second round.

Figueroa couldn’t find his feet as Cariaso passed to mount, pounding and attempting an Americana.

But, it was as Figueroa rose up when Cariaso swept to his back and sank the choke to win.

Metcalf Welcomes Daniels to the Real Deal

Another one-dimensional athlete was sacrificed to the MMA gods when Jeremiah Metcalf (9-4) welcomed “Real Deal” Raymond Daniels (0-1) from Chuck Norris’s World Fight League into mixed martial arts.

Daniels entered the cage 18-0 in the WFL kickboxing promotion.

He left battered, bloodied, and 0-1 in MMA.

Metcalf dominated, taking Daniels down, passing to full mount, and ripping into the MMA rookie.

Daniels gave his back to a rear naked choke as blood oozed from his nose 59 seconds into round two.

Welcome to the real deal, Raymond Daniels.

Caraway Chokes Cacdac

Bryan Caraway (9-2) went octopus on Alvin Cacdac (4-4), shooting at the opening bell and wrapping Cacdac in a rear naked choke at nearly two minutes of round one Friday night in San Jose for the submission “W”.

Trivino Taps Jacob

“Spider” Alexander Trivino (2-0) manhandled Eric Jacob (1-4) for 37 seconds before slipping in an armbar as Jacob defended the guillotine choke Trivino had caught him in as Jacob shot to open the fight.

Padhillo Out-Hustles Johnson

Welterweight Travis Johnson (2-1) flipped the switch at the end of the second three-minute round versus Cyrillo Padhillo (1-0) and scored a left hook knockdown in round three; but, Padhillo’s early takedowns and pot-shots breaking the clinch were too much to overcome.

Padihillo celebrated in the final seconds, coming away with a unanimous decision by 30-27 and 29-28 twice.

Saint Jorge Slays the “Dragon”

Jorge Interiano (1-0) was sainted in his professional debut, slaying “Last Dragon” Travis Johnson (0-1) by doctor stoppage after the second round of a sloppy brawl. A left hook in the second round opened a cut under Johnson’s eye, prompting the stoppage.

“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.

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.