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Although the organization has yet to officially confirm much in regards to their highly anticipated April event, it was reported during Friday night’s “Strikeforce Challengers VI” show that fans can expect to hear a “big” announcement on Monday. 

With the rumor mill swirling wilder than ever in regards to the San Jose-based firm’s potential moves, here’s a breakdown of what’s known, unknown and more …

Known:

* – On Thursday, M-1 Global confirmed Fedor Emelianenko will not participate in Strikeforce’s April show, but are still expects to face Fabricio Werdrum for the company in a yet-to-be-announced May extravaganza.

* – Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker confirmed the organization will indeed host an April 17th card in Nashville, Tennessee, not the 24th.

“We will be having a fight in Nashville on April 17, but the rest of the information we’ll be announcing next week,” Coker told MMAFighting.com Thursday. “April 24 Showtime is having a big boxing fight so I know we won’t be having a fight on the 24th.”

* – Sherdog.com reported on Friday that CBS will in fact broadcast the April card and that a middleweight title fight between champ Jake Shields and Dan Henderson will be the featured bout inside the Sommet Center in Nashville.

* -  Multiple outlets are reporting that former Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker has been added to the April card as well.

* – Strikeforce will make a “big” announcement regarding their upcoming schedule on Monday.

Unknown:

Clearly, an All-American middleweight title fight isn’t box office enough for a primetime mixed martial arts event, so …

* – Will Gegard Mousasi co-headline the CBS telecast and defend his light heavyweight title against Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal as has been heavily rumored?

* – Will Shinya Aoki make his U.S. debut and challenge Gilbert Melendez for this 155-pound Strikeforce title?

* – Is Brett Rogers going to put his humbling loss to Emelianenko behind him and make back-to-back appearances on CBS?

“For Brett, I think the fights that make sense for him are Antonio Silva or Alistair Overeem — those are the two guys I’d like to see him fight right now,” Coker said. “I think you’ll see Aoki relatively soon. We’re working hard to try to make that happen.”

* – Is Strikeforce planting the seed for a 2010 pay-per-view debut that would feature a blockbuster heavyweight scrap between reigning champ Overeem and Emelianenko?

“We have a different business model than the UFC does in the pay-per-view television business,” Coker said. “We’re very happy with Showtime and free television on CBS. But before the end of the year, in the fourth quarter, we’ll definitely have a fight on pay-per-view.

“Stay tuned. We’re getting things worked out and we’ll probably have some big announcements next week.”

We’re still waiting, Scotty …

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With February coming to an end and the event-heavy month of March
nearly upon us, the variety of topics for discussion is the sport of
MMA is nearly limitless.

Strikeforce’s Challengers event, controversial middleweight Paulo
Filho, UFC 110’s Cain Velasquez and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, and the
state of MMA’s fanbase were all topics for discussion in this week’s
edition of The Sunday Junkie.

But this week’s winner, back-to-back champion Ralph “RJCT” Purificato,
focused on one of  the most widely debated stories of the past week:
Frank Mir’s controversial rant on Brock Lesnar and subsequent apology.

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As reported on Wednesday, Stephan Bonnar intends to appeal his controversial TKO loss to Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 110. Today, Marc Ratner, UFC vice president of regulatory affairs, said the organization will assist Bonnar in his protest, however there is only so much they can do. 

After two back-and-forth rounds, the light heavyweights collided heads in the final round’s opening ticks, which caused blood to gush out of Bonnar’s forehead. Unfortunately for “The Ultimate Fighter 1″ finalist, Australian referee John Sharp ruled the cut had been caused by a legal strike and Soszynski was awarded the win.

“It’s their commission,” Ratner told Sherdog.com. “They have a real commission. I’m going to help Stephan any way I can, but it’s their decision. The referee was asked if it was a head butt, and he said it was a strike or a punch. From his position, he did not see the head butt.”

Soszynski immediately acknowledged that the accidental head butt was what caused the laceration and that he would be open to a rematch if one was presented.

“It’s only fair to get this overturned to a no contest or draw,” said Bonnar. “In the rules, if after two rounds a fighter suffers a cut from an illegal blow, they go to the scorecard. The judges had it one round a piece, which would have made it a draw.”

The New South Wales Combat Sports Authority, which regulated the event inside the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia, will determine whether the fight will be overturned from a loss to a draw or no contest, with the latter being the most likely choice.

“I understand the rules very well. I helped write them,” Ratner said. “The mistake that people are making is that this fight did not end on the accidental head butt. The judges would have had to score that [third] round, a partial round, and come to a technical decision. At the end of two rounds, it was a majority draw, but there was a lot of action in the first minute [of the third round]. No one can say how they would have scored it.”

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A lightweight contest pitting Rob Emerson (9-8 MMA, 3-2-1 UFC) against
Nik Lentz (17-3-2 MMA, 1-0-1 UFC) is targeted for UFC Fight Night 21,
MMAjunkie.com has learned from sources close to the
situation.

Although bout agreements have yet to be signed, both fighters have agreed
to the fight and are expected to put pen to paper shortly.

UFC Fight Night 21 takes place March 31 at Bojangles Coliseum in
Charlotte, N.C. The main card airs live on Spike TV and serves as the
lead-in for “The Ultimate Fighter 11″ season debut.

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A lightweight contest pitting Rob Emerson (9-8 MMA, 3-2-1 UFC) against
Nik Lentz (17-3-2 MMA, 1-0-1 UFC) is targeted for UFC Fight Night 21,
MMAjunkie.com has learned from sources close to the
situation.

Though bout agreements have yet to be signed, both fighters have agreed
to the fight and are expected to put pen to paper shortly.

UFC Fight Night 21 takes place March 31 at Bojangles Coliseum in
Charlotte, N.C. The main card airs live on Spike TV and serves as the
lead-in for “The Ultimate Fighter 11.”

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The co-main event of Friday’s “Strikeforce Challengers VI: Kaufman vs. Hashi” event was all about speed vs. power.

As the first round of the fight between Trevor Prangley (22-5-1 MMA,
3-1-1 SF) and Karl Amoussou (11-2-2 MMA, 0-0-1 SF) unfolded, the South
African connected an a few powerful blows while the Frenchman danced
around his foe and delivered rapid-fire shots.

But just as the fight started to gain momentum, it was halted due to an
accidental blow. While the eye-poke delivered by Pranley was
unintentional, he believes the ensuing stoppage was anything but.

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Fox Sports NFL analyst and avid MMA fan Jay Glazer has teamed up to help UFC Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture sell MMA training as an alternative to standard football-related training.

MMAFighting pointed out that there are a small number of football players turning to MMA as the training method of choice. The most notable NFL superstar to join the ranks of mixed martial arts training and conditioning is NFL Pro Bowl defensive end Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings.

“I think it’s going to be the most important thing I did to help my career,” Allen told Xtreme Couture’s official blog. “It totally changed my entire workout regimen. It’s so much easier on the body than running and all that stuff that puts impact on your joints.”

Longevity has always been an issue with football players who are consistently taking a beating throughout an NFL season. An athlete’s ability to keep their body in top form is imperative to remaining healthy, and there is no better way to push yourself to the furthest limits than to train as if your life depended on it.

Couture is hoping to expand his Xtreme Couture footprint and would love nothing more than to have more NFL players speaking the praises of his already highly-popular gym.

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Former Major League Baseball great Jose Canseco has often found himself as the center of a controversy.

And from steroid-use tell-all novels to “Celebrity Boxing” appearances, the
45-year-old Canseco has never been one to shy away from the spotlight.

Such was the case in 2009 when Canseco traded in his outfielder’s glove
for a pair of the four-ounce variety to face Hong Man Choi in DREAM’s
“Super Hulk” tourney. That effort didn’t work out too well, but Canseco
hopes fans will see that he’s deserving of a second shot.

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Since ProElite, Inc.’s inception in December 2006 as the “new big
player” on the MMA scene, the question has been how it plans to compete
with the UFC.

With brash figurehead Gary Shaw serving as ProElite’s face, the company
got swept up in that race as it continued to hemorrhage money. But
after 20 months of operations and $55 million burnt, it closed up shop.

Paul Feller, CEO of Stratus Media Group, the company that assumed
control of ProElite, Inc. this week, said his goal is not to be the
next promotion to challenge the UFC.

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The UFC has officially announced the heavily-rumored battle between “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” winner Roy “Big Country” Nelson and Stefan Struve for “UFC Fight Night 21.”

Nelson captured the TUF 10 crown after he knocked out Brendan Schaub in the 1stRound of their “The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale” contest. Prior the win, MMA’s biggest gut was riding a two-fight losing streak, however still owns an impressive 14-4 mark overall.

After getting waxed by Junior Dos Santos in his Octagon debut at UFC 95 last February, Struve has rolled off three straight victories. The Dutchman was last seen taking a surprising unanimous decision over MMA veteran Paul Buentello at UFC 107, bumping the 21-year-old’s record to 19-3.

Former two-time UFC light heavyweight top contender Kenny Florian will headline the March 31st card against newly-signed Japanese import Takanori Gomi.

UFC FN 21 takes place at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here are the other contestants confirmed for the the Spike TV broadcast:

Preliminary Bouts:

Charlie Brenneman vs. Jason High
Gerald Harris vs. Mario Mirada
Yushin Okami vs. Lucio Linhares
Gleison Tibau vs. Caol Uno
Jake Volkmann vs. Ronys Torres

Main Bouts:

Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Siver
Nate Quarry vs. Jorge Rivera
Roy “Big Country” Nelson vs. Stefan Struve
Kenny Florian vs. Takanori Gomi

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