Well… that was fast. Either I have the absolute worst timing in the world, or… no, I just happen to have the absolute worst timing in the world. As stated before, strikeforce recently (as in last week) failed to come to terms with their 145-pound women’s champion Cristiane Santos in time for Santos to stay with Strikeforce and not become a free agent. I took my sweet time to give my sincere thoughts on the situation, but I finally got around to doing so yesterday. And now, it’s being reported that Strikeforce has come to terms with “Cyborg” after all, ending her brief period as a free agent. What a strange world we live in, fans and friends. Here are all the details. ...

For those of you that may not know, Strikeforce recently was unable to come to a new agreement with Cristiane Santos, their 145-pound Women’s champion. I avoided talking about the release of “Cyborg” Santos for two major reasons. First and foremost, I wanted to give myself some time to cool off, since as a Santos super-fan, I probably would’ve flown into a ranting, raving tirade had I initially reported on Santos’ dismissal. Secondly, I got very caught up in the “Perfect Storm” weekend, and then UFC 132 directly after that. But now that all that’s behind me, I think I’m ready to talk about this topic in earnest. So here goes. ...

When was the last time that Cristiane Santos has fought? Don't worry, I'm scratching my head too. "Cyborg", the Strikeforce women's 145-pound champion, has not fought since June of last year against Jan Finney, who has since returned before Santos last November. Since signing with Strikeforce in 2009, Santos has fought just four-times within a two-year span, and the Brazilian striker is getting extremely impatient with the pace that her mixed martial arts career has slowed down to. With infrequent fights, Santos is losing money in the mean time. Now, it appears that Cristiane is fielding an offer to sign with wrestling powerhouse franchise, World Wrestling Entertainment, aka the WWE. ...

During the televised broadcast of the recent Strikeforce: “Fedor vs. Silva” show, none other than Gina Carano announced that she would be making her return to Strikeforce sometime in 2011. To this day, Carano remains a very popular and yet also somewhat-controversial female fighting star. Some fans don’t appreciate the way she left the sport, and some fans have mixed feelings regarding her impending return. I’m actually a Gina Carano fan even though I’m a bigger fan of her greatest rival, Cristiane Santos, so here’s five reasons to be excited for the return of Gina Carano. ...

At one time, former EliteXC and Strikeforce fighter Gina Carano was known as “The Face of Women’s MMA”. Carano was unbeaten, gorgeous, and decidedly vicious in the cage, with a 7-0 flawless record that included four finishes with two first-round stoppages. Then, of course, Carano met Cristiane Santos in the first-ever MMA event headlined by a women’s MMA fight, and hasn’t fought since. But that’s about to change, as it’s recently been revealed that Carano is back in training and is more than likely planning a major comeback. ...

2010 was a very interesting year for MMA, for several reasons. The sport continued to grow at an unparalleled rate, several challengers to the UFC continued to set themselves apart and grow both their fanbase and as a business, and the phrase “anything is possible in MMA” took on an entirely new meaning as countless come-from-behind victories were scored and several amazing and unexpected finishes took place. Women’s MMA continued to grow in 2010 despite having an up-and-down year, and according to newly-crowned strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Champion Marloes Coenen, she too experienced continued growth in an up-and-down year. ...

As a self-professed super-fan of Cristiane Santos, I’ve become an adamant follower of women’s Mixed Martial Arts. I’m a relative newcomer through and through, my first exposure came with the female division of the now-defunct EliteXC promotion. But in that short amount of time, I’ve grown to have a tremendous amount of respect for the women that get inside a cage and seriously get to work. I am not alone in my sentiments, as the women’s division continues to grow and gain respect in both the Bellator FC and Strikeforce promotions. Recently, a new challenger has emerged that may just put the entire women’s MMA landscape on notice: a female boxing champion is going to be making the transition to MMA in 2011. ...

If my recent defense of Women’s MMA should tell you anything about me, it’s that I love watching Strikeforce’s females. While Women’s MMA as a whole is still growing and mostly playing catch-up to standard-bearers like Cristiane Santos and Megumi Fujii, it’s not even up for debate that Strikeforce has the best female MMA division of all the promotions that have female MMA divisions. This is why I was so excited for a one-night, 135-pound tournament to crown a contender for Sarah Kaufman’s 135-pound Strikeforce Women’s Championship. All four women involved in this tournament were very different from one another, and the clash of styles could have parlayed into four (with the reserve bout) straight show-stealing performances. While I think the fights themselves were decent enough, ultimately, the one-night tournament fell flat on its face and I’m honestly glad that it’s over. It was a novel idea that could have worked, but it failed for one major reason: the ridiculous time limits. ...

With the hype train behind Fedor Emelianenko now derailed, many are left wondering what happens not only to strikeforce’s Heavyweight division, but where Strikeforce as a whole goes from here. Some call Strikeforce a breeding ground for UFC cast-offs, while followers of the San Jose-based promotion are quick to point out that Strikeforce contains world-caliber champions and aspiring newcomers, resulting in fight cards that are a hit more often than not. Going forward, here’s what I think will be the keys to success for Strikeforce. ...

Strikeforce put on the first show of this year last night and there were highs and lows plus some shocking revelations post-fight. I will start with the high points of the night first which leads me to the showdown between "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler (17-5) and Melvin Manhoef (23-6-1). ...