The 3rd of 4 preliminary card fights on FX is a battle between two Strikeforce light-heavyweights making their UFC debuts, as Ovince St. Preux (12-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC) faces Gian Villante (10-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC 159 in Newark, New Jersey.

It's a return to the Garden State for Villante, who was a Ring of Combat fighter in Atlantic City for his first 8 fights. Coverage of the UFC 159 preliminaries o...

Onetime Strikeforce fighter Joe Cason is apparently returning to his football roots.

According to the UIFL's Missouri Monsters,

Cason has signed on with the team following an August open tryout and is

expected to play on both offense and defense in the team's upcoming season.

"Joe is someone I knew about prior to taking this position through my

MMA pipeline, and I never expected someone like...

One of the things I and many other MMA fans loved about Strikeforce was that every now and then their matchmaking harkened back to the Pride Era. When I think about the philosophy of Pride matchmaking, it reminds me of the difference between The Avengers and say, The Dark Knight Rises (the UFC corollary I guess).

Sure it feels proper for each fight to be have a broader narrative, subtext, and ev...

Two light heavyweight prospects who recently had five fight winning streaks snapped will attempt to get back on track this Saturday night (August 18, 2012) as Ovince St. Preux takes on T.J. Cook in the opening bout of the Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman main card in San Diego, California.

Ovince St. Preux burst onto the scene in 2011, winning five straight fights in Strikeforce and instantly be...

(Photo via Strikeforce.com)

By Anton Gurevich

This weekend, Ovince St. Preux will step inside the Strikeforce cage to face the former Light Heavyweight Champion Gegard Mousasi as part of the stacked Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal fight card in San Diego, California. Representing Knoxville Martial Arts Academy, 11-4 St. Preux will look to prove a point about his future as one of the best 2...

A seasoned veteran will test a rising prospect at light heavyweight this Saturday night (December 17, 2011) as former Strikeforce champion Gegard Mousasi takes on rising star Ovince St. Preux on the Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal main card.

Mousasi lost his title in April of 2010 and he wants it back. Since losing the belt, he's won the Dream light heavyweight grand prix to claim their bel...

A seasoned veteran will test a rising prospect at light heavyweight this Saturday night (December 17, 2011) as former Strikeforce champion Gegard Mousasi takes on rising star Ovince St. Preux on the Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal main card.

Mousasi lost his title in April of 2010 and he wants it back. Since losing the belt, he's won the Dream light heavyweight grand prix to claim their bel...

The Zuffa yentes have been hard at work, making matches, finding finds, catching catches for UFC 139 and the Strikeforce event in December.

Dana White announced on Twitter that Wanderlei Silva will now fight Cung Le at UFC 139. Vitor Belfort, who had been tabbed for the main event, is injured. Silva's last fight was a brutal KO by Chris Leben, and afterwards, White had suggested that Silva retir...

Ovince St. Preux and his management team asked to fight Gegard Mousasi last month, and Mousasi recently said he'd be cool with that. Strikeforce has apparently booked the fight for their yet-unannounced December 17th event, according to a report by MMA Junkie.

OSP has looked quite impressive lately, rattling off five straight wins in Strikeforce and eight overall. His last win was a 72-second TK...

Ovince St. Preux has looked mighty impressive in his Strikeforce career to date, and his camp thinks he's destined for big things. OSP is coming off a 72-second victory over Joe Cason at Strikeforce Challenger 17 last month, where he made Cason tap to punches. Who should he fight next? His camp expressed to MMA Weekly that they would like to fight Gegard Mousasi:

"We want Gegard Mousasi," Nima S...

All Strikeforce “Challengers 17” drug screens have come back negative, the Nevada State Athletic Commission announced Friday.

Twelve fighters in total were tested following their performances on July 22 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, including headliners Bobby Voelker and Roger Bowling. Additionally, Shawn Jordan, Devin Cole, Ovince St. Preux, Joe Cason, Anthony Smith, Bill Cooper, St...

Strikeforce Challengers 17: "Voelker vs. Bowling 3" drug test results are in from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, who today confirmed that all 12 fighters tested for illegal/banned substances have passed with flying colors.

Fighters that competed on the card that were tested were all screened for performance enhancers such as steroids and drugs of abuse like cocaine and marijuana, amo...

Strikeforce Challengers 17 Salaries:

Bobby Voelker $11000 ($5500 win bonus)

Roger Bowling $4500

Devin Cole: $10,000 ($5,000 win bonus)

Shawn Jordan: $4,000

Ovince St. Preux: $12000 ($6000 win bonus)

Joe Cason: $3000

Sarah Kaufman: $10000 (no win bonus)

Liz Carmouche: $2500

Adlan Amagov: $8000 ($4000 win bonus)

Ron Stallings: $3000

T.J. Cook: $5000 ($2500 win bonus)

Lionel Lanham: $20...

Strikeforce Challengers 17: "Voelker vs. Bowling 3" went down last Saturday night (July 23, 2011) from the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Now that the dust has settled, it's time for these guys (and gals) to get paid.

Up-and-coming light heavyweight contender Ovince St. Preux was the top earner of the night, banking $12,000 for pounding out Joe Cason in the first round of their 205-p...

Fast-rising light heavyweight contender Ovince St. Preux was the top

earner at this past weekend's Strikeforce Challengers 17 event.

St. Preux earned $12,000 for his quick main-card win over Joe Cason, topping the $101,500 total disclosed payroll.

MMAjunkie.com today requested and received the list of disclosed paydays from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

The fists were certainly flying last night (July 22, 2011) at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada for Strikeforce Challengers 17: "Voelker vs Bowling 3."

Cincinnati native Roger Bowling did everything right. He was handily defeating Bobby Voelker with a mixture of counters, leg and body kicks as well as takedowns for seven straight minutes.

That is, until he got knocked out.

All it to...

Ovince St. Preux had no intentions of going from the gridiron to the cage, but trainer Eric Turner tricked him into fighting mixed martial arts. Turner saw the potential in the former Tennessee Volunteer linebacker and convinced him that the punches weren't that hard in the cage.

Five years later OSP is the one doling out the pain. Joe Cason felt his power tonight in Las Vegas when he ate a knee...

As with every major show, Bloody Elbow will be here to bring you live results, play by play and commentary for Strikeforce Challengers 17. The live blog will start with the beginning of the Showtime broadcast (11 p.m. ET) so make sure to make Bloody Elbow your home for this event.

The event is headlined by a third fight between Roger Bowling and Bobby Voelker. Also on the card, top female conten...

Heavyweight Joe Cason describes his burgeoning MMA career as a snowball that kept rolling downhill.

After his dreams of football stardom came crashing down, he picked up

kickboxing on the request of an acquaintance. Then he got addicted, got

good, and needed to spread his wings at a bigger gym.

That gym was Duke Roufus' Academy in Milwaukee, and now that he's

working with the big boys, his g...

Strikeforce Challengers 17 takes place tonight from The Pearl at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas and will air live on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET.

The trilogy between welterweights Roger Bowling and Bobby Voelker headlines the card, and former 135-pound champion Sarah Kaufman, who returns to Strikeforce for the first time since losing the title, will face Liz Carmouche. The other bouts highlighting the...