The Pit middleweight Tim Kennedy (13-2) tapped out Zak Cummings (10-1) in a north-south choke at 2:43 of round two at Strikeforce Challenger Series 3 in Tulsa Friday night. Kennedy was spectacular!  In round two, Kennedy hopped into a standing guillotine attempt, slipped out of easily by Cummings.  Kennedy put Cummings against the cage, but Cummings pushed clear, falling neatly into another choke.  Cumming rolled free, but Kennedy transitioned quickly into the final choke, forcing the tap out. ...

As reported first by Fighters.com, Tulsa-based featherweight prospect “Dark Knight” Travis Calanoc (4-0) will make his Strikeforce debut at Strikeforce Challengers 3 in Tulsa 25 September. Strikeforce confirmed Monday that Calanoc will fight Muay Thai champion and fellow Tulsa resident Thomas Longacre (4-0). Calanoc is a Marine Corps Martial Arts blackbelt who trained with “Eastside Assassin” Mikey Burnett (5-2) before entering the military. He TKO'd American Top Team's Renato Tavares (4-4) at Freestyle Cage Fighting in Tulsa last April. ...

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 ...