One of their biggest flaws has always been the manner in which they put together bouts on a given fight card, case in point “Strikeforce: Columbus” which has already rustled through three fighters in a single bout. Initially, a middleweight match-up pitting Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Tim Kennedy was expected to take place on the March event, which is scheduled to coincide with the Arnold’s Sports Festival, however the promotion has since scrapped those plans for the trilogy bout.

Then, it was announced that Kennedy would instead be facing budding contender Luke Rockhold in a middleweight fight, and as of today that fight has been put on the back burner also.

MMAJunkie.com is reporting that Manhoef, a veteran K-1 fighter, will instead meet Tim Kennedy in the 185-pound fight, which is expected to be part of the Showtime televised main-card. The event is to be headlined by a light heavyweight title bout featuring champion Rafael “Feijao” against legend Dan Henderson.

Kennedy was last seen in action on the losing side of a hard-fought 25-minute decision to current titleholder Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza when the two met last August–the both were vying for the then vacant middleweight crown, which was left up for grabs when former titleholder Jake Shields signed with the UFC.

Manhoef was last inside the Strikeforce cage when he was shockingly knocked out by the “Ruthless” one, Robbie Lawler. Melvin was dominating the former EliteXC champ early with a barrage of leg kicks that had the H.I.T Squad co-founder on the defense, however Lawler still managed to uncork an over hand right that sent the Dutch striker crashing to the mat. A followup blow cemented the knockout win for Robbie.

Since the middleweight affair, Melvin subsequently lost to Tatsuya Mizuno in a light heavyweight match-up in the quarter-finals of DREAM’s inaugural 205-pound Grand Prix. Manhoef was TKO’d inside of the first-round.

So, MMA peeps, what do you think of the new bout? Strikeforce is a head ache and a half when it comes to these late minute matches. I still remember when I was at Strikeforce: Evolution in San Jose in December of 2009, where the aforementioned Lawler was still waiting to see if a new opponent would come in on late notice after both Benji Radach and Trevor Prangley bowed out of the middleweight bout..and this was on the day of the weigh-ins. Sound off in the comment section below.

Both men are the top players in the Strikeforce middleweight division, as they have both challenged for the promotions 185-pound strap, so it seemed only logical that they would meet not only to settle the score of their 1-1 meeting to conclude with a definitive winner to the trilogy, but the win would also also a clear cut number one contender to the title.

However, with Miller having been pulled from the bout, an equally impressive Luke Rockhold has stepped in his place, and will likely battle Kennedy to determine the next challenger for the title.

MMAJunkie.com reported earlier today the cancellation of the middleweight fight with sources close to the fighters. Later, Mike Afromowitz of Strikeforce confirmed the newly minted bout with Rockhold and Kennedy, later stating that the bout with Miller was never official as nothing was signed.

Kennedy was last seen in action when he challenged Ronaldo Souza for the then vacant middleweight title, however fell short in his bid to become champion when “Jacare” took home a close decision victory over the U.S. Army veteran, using his improved stand-up skills which lasted for the full 25 minutes of the championship bout. The loss snapped a four-fight win streak for Kennedy, three of which came inside Strikeforce.

Rockhold, meanwhile, has yet to taste defeat since his inception into the San Jose based promotion, and last recorded an “L” in November of 2007 in just his second professional mixed martial arts bout. Currently, Luke is a perfect 6-0 with the promotion, which is thanks largely to his ties with the American Kickboxing Academy. Perhaps what is more impressive during his recent stretch is that the the skateboarder has never gone past the second-round, finishing four of his six opponents in Strikeforce via rear-naked choke.

So, MMA peeps, what do you think of the new match-up? While I was looking forward to the Miller-Kennedy trilogy, this fight is very exciting nonetheless. The two middleweights are expected to meet at “Strikeforce: Columbus” which will be going down at the Nationwide Arena on March 5, with a light heavyweight headliner pitting champ Rafael “Feijao” against legend Dan Henderson. Sound off in the comment section below.

But first, here’s how the Middleweight roster breaks down. Looking at the title picture from left to right, the EA Sports Middleweight roster features Benji Radach, Lyman Good, Matt Lindland, Luke Rockhold, Frank Trigg, Joe Riggs, Kazuo Misaki, Scott Smith, Murilo Rua, Tim Kennedy, Pat Miletich, Jake Shields, Nick Thompson, Melvin Manhoef, Robbie Lawler, Dan Henderson, Gegard Mousasi, Jason Miller, Cung Le, Nick Diaz, Frank Shamrock, and Ronaldo Souza.

It should be noted that eight fighters in the Middleweight division are carry-overs from the already-announced Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions. There’s some debate going around the internet gaming forums as to whether or not this is a cheap move in order to cut the time down on coding and creating different fighters, or a good way to ensure quality cross-division super-fights. I personally think it’s a little of both: I think the roster is a little limited, but the fact that you can play as your favorite fighter in several different weight classes mostly balances that out. Plus, with download-a-fighter being included, I think this game’s roster will be massive once people start creating famous MMA fighters are putting them online for anybody and everybody to download.

Much like the UFC including the famous Madison Square Garden in their “UFC Undisputed” games, it’s recently been confirmed that EA Sports MMA will have the Cowboys Stadium as an in-game venue despite the fact that a major Mixed Martial Arts event has never been booked there. An online image has already surfaced, which you can view here. Even as a huge fan of UFC Undisputed 2009, I think Madison Square Garden was really under-played in both UFC 2009 and 2010. Not so with Cowboys Stadium- the images revealed so far look downright amazing. I may actually get goosebumps when my Create-a-Fighter either defends or tries to get at the Strikeforce Championship in that mega-arena.

The last time I was this excited for a sports game, my hopes met quite the rude awakening. So, even with all the hype I’m buying into, I know that there’s still a chance for EA Sports MMA to let me down in much the same way that UFC Undisputed 2010 let me down. But until that day, I have to say…this is shaping up to be a genre-defining game. Every time I hear something new about this game, it’s something I think I could find myself enjoying immensely. When October 19 hits, I’ve got a pretty good feeling that there’s going to be a new Undisputed Champion of Mixed Martial Arts video games.

But what about you, fans and friends? How high would you rate your anticipation of “EA Sports MMA”?

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.

Rockhold came out with a right punch, which Theotikos immediately evaded, catching Rockhold in what looked like a tight guillotine.  Rockhold was able to escape, and landed in Theotikos’s guard.  Rockhold reddened Theotikos’s ribs with his fists.

They rolled and Rockhold got Theotikos’s back, first attempting the rear naked choke, then trying some ground and pound, but finally finishing with a rear naked at 3:06 of round one.

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.

The weights were as follows:

Terry Martin (18-5) 186 lbs v “Hands of Steel” Scott Smith (13-6) 185.5 lbs

“Babalu” Renato Sobral (29-8) 204 lbs v Bobby Southworth (9-4) 204 lbs

Yves Edwards (34-14-1) 164 lbs v “Bang” Duane Ludwig (17-8) 163 lbs

“Diesel” Joe Riggs (28-11) 170.5 lbs v Luke Stewart (5-1) 170.5 lbs

Nik Theotikos (5-0) 185 lbs vs Luke Rockhold (2-1) 185.5 lbs

Brian Schwartz (0-1) 175 lbs v Lemont Davis (1-2) 173 lbs

Josh Neal (4-3) 184 lbs v Kurt Osiander (2-1) 185 lbs

Cyrillo Padilha (1-1) 156 lbs v Bobby Stack (2-1) 155 lbs

Tony Johnson (0-1) 184 lbs v Eric Lawson (1-0) 185 lbs

Brad Royster (1-1) 134 lbs v Darren Uyenoyama (4-1) 136 lbs

Jose Palacios (1-1) 145 lbs v Alvin Cacdac (3-4) 143 lbs

Adam Steel (1-0) 168 lbs v Zakary Bucia (1-0) 168 lbs

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