This looks to be a short event with a few fun fights on it. It will air Saturday on the Showtime network. Bret Rogers is fighting Abongo Humphrey in a bout that sees two undefeated HW fighters going at it. Rogers made some noise after calling out Kimbo Slice last year. Neither one of these guys will be challenging Fedor any time soon, if you catch my drift, but it should still be a fun slugfest... for about two minutes, after which we'll either have one winner, or two gassed Heavyweights. Cris "Cyborg" Santos is fighting Hitomi Akano. Santos is naturally larger and is an explosive striker, while Akano is more seasoned and is more of a Judo/submission style fighter. I'm pulling for Santos just because I want that dream match with Carano to happen. Benji Radach faces Scott Smith in a battle of middleweight sluggers. I will be very disappointed if I don't see someone get knocked out here. It seems like every time Scott Smith fights, you have something to talk about the next day. Gilbert Melendez was originally scheduled to face Strikeforce LW title holder Josh Thompson in a rematch, but Thompson sustained a leg injury a few weeks ago. Replacing him is BJJ specialist Rodrigo Damm. The fight will be for the interim LW title. Melendez has loads more experience, but hasn't fought in a while. I expect him to grind out a UD, but Damm is capable of pulling an upset. The main event is a catch-weight fight between Nick Diaz and Frank Shamrock, who will meet at 179lbs. Diaz struggled with some of the better grapplers in the WW division in the UFC, including Sherk and Sanchez, who have since dropped to LW. Shamrock has never weighed over 200lbs, so I doubt he'll have trouble making weight. I think he's too submission savy to get caught by Diaz, but his knees are pretty much gone and I don't think he'll be able to get the fight to the ground on his own terms. I think Shamrock will win, by virtue of being the bigger fighter, although Diaz stopped Robbie Lawler early in his career, who fights at MW now. I think it would really benefit Strikeforce if Diaz won. He's got more of a local following and more potential, plus beating a larger fighter who's an MMA legend would add some cred to his rep. Shame I won't see it live, but I'm interested in the results.
