While Japan has seen better days, with the country having recently been ravaged by tsunamis and earthquakes galore, one thing remains strong, and that is the mixed martial arts community. We've seen that first with the recent Strikeforce event, where three of Japan's best participated on the card, with DREAM's featherweight champion Hiroyuki Takaya, lightweight champion Shinya Aoki, and perennial contender Tatsuya Kawajiri all in action. Though the participants left the the event with mixed results, with Shinya Aoki the only one emerging victorious with a first-round submission win over lightweight prospect Lyle Beerbohm, DREAM hopes to give an extra push towards Japan's relief efforts by holding their May event side by side with various charities. And said event will also feature the organization's inaugural bantamweight grand-prix, which will feature many notable fighters. ...

Darren Uyenoyama (5-1) came away with the unanimous decision over opponent Brad Royster (1-2) at Strikeforce: Destruction in San Jose Friday night. The first two rounds were dominated by Uyenoyama, with repeated and almost-but-not-quite successful submission attempts.  He was all over his opponent Royster, who was able to escape intact. Royster did all the work in round three, with Uyenoyama refusing to engage until the right moment.  It came, and Uyenoyama took him down in short order.  Mounted on his opponent, Uyenoyama ended the round with a flurry of punches and pouring blood down onto a trapped  Royster. All judges scored the fight 30-27. ...

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. ...

Strikeforce has confirmed the full line-up for its Destruction event, which takes place 21 November in San Jose. Two title fights, between Strikeforce Lightweight Champion “The Punk” Josh Thomson (14-2-1) and Yves Edwards (34-14-1) and between Light Heavyweight Champion Bobby Southworth (9-4) and “Babalu” Renato Sobral (29-8), will headline the event. Also featured is a welterweight bout between “Diesel” Joe Riggs (28-10) and Luke Stewart (4-1). The rest of the card includes: Lemont Davis (1-2) versus Brian Schwartz (0-1) at 175 lbs Brad Royster (1-1) versus Darren Uyenoyama (4-1) at 135 lbs Tony Johnson (0-1) versus Eric Lawson (2-2) at 185 lbs Alvin Cacdac (3-4) versus Jose Palacios (1-1) at  145 lbs Bobby Stack (2-1) versus Cyrillo Padilha (1-1) at 155 lbs Zakary Bucia (0-1) versus Jaime Rodriguez (0-0) at 155 lbs Kurt Osiander (2-0) versus Raul Castillo (2-0) at 185 lbs Nik Theotikos (5-0) versus Luke Rockhold (2-1) at 185 lbs ...

Fighters.com's Lightweight Champion "Tobikan Judan" Shinya Aoki (16-2) further expanded the common MMA repertoire Sunday at DREAM.4 when he tapped Katsuhiko Nagata (4-3) in a gogoplata from the full mount at 5:12 of round one. Adorning his sprayed-on, gaudy long johns, Aoki scored two takedowns, mounting Nagata on the second.  Aoki pounded his victim as Nagata bucked. Aoki wasn't going anywhere! He smothered Nagata and slipped his foot out of nowhere into the pretzel that ended the fight, advancing Aoki to the Lightweight Grand Prix semi-finals. “If you want to be the legend, you have to kill the legend," "Marvelous" Melvin Manhoef (22-4-1) said after slaying "Gracie Hunter" Kazushi Sakuraba (24-11-1) with a kick in the first round and advancing to the Middleweight Grand Prix semi-finals. "That’s what I did today.” Manhoef finished the Japanese legend with a knee to Sakuraba's head from side control followed by hammerfists to his face before the referee ended the fight. ...

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. ...