Props: Long Island Examiner

Quoteworthy:

"I tore my PCL, I had a knee injury before my fight with GSP in which I tore my MCL and now 6 weeks before my fight with Fitch I tore my PCL. My doctor advised me not to fight and although I still wanted to fight my manager told me not to because I am not 100%, they felt it was not a good idea to go up against a fighter like Jon Fitch at anything less than full strength. I am going to take this time off to heal and get better, hopefully I will be back by January 31st. It's not as bad as it could have been but it's not worth the risk of doing any further damage. You have no idea how bad I wanted this fight! When I come back I am going to better than ever, the next time I step inside the octagon I am going to make a huge impression. Everything happens for a reason and I have no complaints."

Former number one welterweight contender Thiago Alves talks about the difficult decision to pull out of his UFC 107 bout against Jon Fitch on Dec. 12 after suffering a knee injury while training. "The Pitbull" is trying to get back in line and work his way up the welterweight ladder for another crack at current champion Georges St. Pierre, who bested the Brazilian at UFC 100 back on July 11. With Fitch now matched up against Mike Pierce, who will be the new opponent for Alves when he returns in 2010? Marcus Davis, Dan Hardy, Mike Swick … what showdown do you want to see?

Strikeforce held the weigh-in event today for their Challenger Series which is scheduled for Friday night (June 19) and broadcast live on Showtime from the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington.

The Washington State Athletic Commission does not allow the usual one pound difference in weight for non-title bouts as most other states do. Strikeforce attempted to alleviate any problems by including catchweight stipulations in the event that any of the fighters did not make the necessary weight.

With that being said, two bouts have been changed to a catchweight. Jorge Gurgel vs. Conor Heun was originally to be contested at 155 lbs but has now been changed to a 160 lb limit.

Justin Davis vs. Dennis Hallman was originally scheduled to be contested at 185 lbs but was bumped up to a 195 lb catchweight bout. Davis is a late replacement for Cedric Marks but was not penalized for missing the weight and will still be allowed to fight. There were several undercard fights forced to change to catchweight bouts as well.

Here are the complete weigh in results for Strikeforce Challenger Series:

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Going into his fight with Ben Saunders at UFC 99: "The Comeback" on June 13, Mike Swick was looking to make a statement. "Quick" wasn’t looking past "Killa-B" by any stretch of the imagination, but he wanted people to know that he was here to stay and that he was very much a real threat to any contender in the welterweight division.

Mission accomplished.

With another win in the books and an outstanding 9-1 record in the UFC, Swick can now begin to look ahead in his quest for welterweight supremacy. Swick himself is the first to admit that he needs to work on his game and defeat some higher level opponents -- but also doesn't diminish the toughness of Saunders.

"He came at me the way I expected, I was a little thrown off by the way he held me on the ground for the majority of the first round. With that being said he has a bright future, he is a tough dude and he will be around here for a long time."

Swick's place in the welterweight division may very well be determined by his next opponent. In addition to the old guard, there has been a recent influx of new blood with guys like Martin Kampmann and Carlos Condit also gunning for the top spot.

And that's fine with Swick -- so long as he doesn't get lost in the shuffle.

"I truly hope to be in the mix, I want to test myself against the best the UFC has to offer. My next fight I want a big fight something to catapult me to the top. I’ll fight anyone they put in front of me but fighting guys like GSP, Thiago Alves or Matt Hughes would work for me."

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The second installment of the Strikeforce Challenger Series "Villasenor vs. Cyborg" is set to go down live this Friday (June 19) from The ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Showtime.

Friday’s event will feature a main event between middleweights "Smokin" Joey Villasenor and Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos. In addition, former Elite XC number one welterweight contender, Nick Thompson, will try his hand at 185 pounds against Tim Kennedy in the co-featured fight of the night.

And The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 2 castaway Jorge Gurgel is also set to make his Strikeforce debut on the five-fight televised main card, colliding with Conor Heun in a 155-pound match.

To help us get better prepared for tomorrow's card, I'll be breaking down the main event matches and offering my own insight into how I think each fight will go down.

The Challenger series offers up some big name veterans as well as some interesting up-and-comers. Strikeforce is putting its ProElite assets to good use after partnering with cable television giant Showtime. It might be a good time to start thinking about adding the premium channel to your current television lineup.

Now, on to the predictions.

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Any fighter who holds a 26-4 record and was once the UFC middleweight championship would certainly consider their career a resounding success. For Rich Franklin he can leave the sport with his head held high at any point from here on in. Some say his career has been marked by an inability to win the big one.

Franklin has been one of the UFC's poster boys since their epic explosion following the first Ultimate Fighter Finale. It was on that show where he defeated UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock via brutal first round TKO and announced that he was here to make an impact. Being chosen as one of the two coaches on the follow-up season only enhanced his value. Up until that point he had lost only one fight to a relatively unknown Lyoto Machida on a New Year's Eve card in Japan in 2003.

In June of 2005 he defeated Evan Tanner for the second time in a bout for the UFC middleweight championship. His first defense came against Nate Quarry and he won via first round knockout. Franklin would defend the title for a second time against David Loiseau in a five round war just four months later. He was now 21-1 and facing a stiff test in Anderson Silva.

Silva was awarded a title shot based upon his complete domination over Chris Leben at Ultimate Fight Night 5 in his organizational debut. Silva defeated Franklin and took home the middleweight crown in just under three minutes work. So at this point in his career Franklin had only lost twice. He would take home a win against gatekeeper Jason MacDonald and then win a hard fought battle against Yushin Okami to earn a rematch against Silva at UFC 77 in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of watching WEC 41: "Brown vs. Faber 2," another outstanding WEC card from the Zuffa sister promotion. Top to bottom this organization produces great shows. I like the announcing, the crowd was electric and the fighters really put on some fascinating bouts.

We can go on and on about the main event and how tough Faber is, but I was also impressed with Donald Cerrone and Jose Aldo, who I believe should be the next one to face WEC featherweight kingpin Mike Brown.

The champ is on a roll and it is going to take someone who possesses much more than just speed to topple him. His strength is amazing and he just does not make the kind of mistakes that another fighter can capitalize on. He fights an intelligent game on top of everything else.

Aldo is a maniac and extremely powerful in his own right as evidenced by his five TKO’s in as many WEC bouts. I think Cerrone is going to take the belt from Varner when they fight again. He might have won their first fight (if it wasn't stopped) and it won’t go as long the next time around.

It is nice to hear that Strikeforce: "Carano vs. Cyborg" will be afforded the opportunity to showcase their skills with five, five minute rounds. They train just as hard as the men do and they should be given the same opportunities to decide a true winner. With three minute rounds the fighters could lose a round by just being on their back for less than two minutes.

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Strikeforce recently confirmed that former Elite XC fighter and recent Strikeforce acquisition Cristiane Santos (7-1) will finally fight female fighting sensation Gina Carano (7-0) at the upcoming Strikeforce event planned for August 15.

And like any other championship bout, the 145-pound contest will feature five, five-minute rounds.

With such a historic fight taking place, it seems only "Natural" that Carano would pull out all the stops in her attempt to defeat her toughest opponent to date.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Randy "The Natural" Couture is rumored to not only be training Carano, but also cornering her the night of the fight, even as he prepares for his bout with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira just two weeks later according to MMAWeekly.

"Conviction" will be assisted by several Xtreme Couture trainers as well as many of the other fighters who train under Randy. Tyson Griffin, Jay Hieron, Mike Pyle and Gray Maynard are just a few of the mixed martial artists who will help prepare Carano for her title fight under the Strikeforce banner.

Santos was last seen squashing Hitomi Akano last April at the Strikeforce: "Shamrock vs. Diaz" Showtime event, the first televised show for the San Jose-based promotion under their new contract with the cable television giant.

"Cyborg" was roundly criticized for missing weight for the Akano bout and subsequently blaming it on her menstrual cycle. "Girlfight Monster" was undersized to begin with and while she offered little-to-no offense, she did absorb a lot of punishment before Cyborg was finally able to put her away early in the third round.

Santos is currently 7-1 with five wins coming via (T)KO.

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MMA fighter-turned bank thief, Lee Murray, recently attempted to break-free from a Moroccan prison in which he has been held for cocaine possession for the last three years, according to Fighter's Only Magazine.

The report indicates that the one-time UFC middleweight attempted to escape from prison using tiny saws that were hidden in his food. However, his efforts were apparently thwarted when a fellow prisoner broke into his cell, found the saws and informed prison officials.

It seems that several other prisoners do not like the way he is afforded special favors because of his money and stature.

Prior to getting ratted out, Murray's plan was to cut the bars off the prison's window and squeak through the narrow opening. "Lightning" has been starving himself and training especially hard so that he would fit through the tight passage.

It was all for naught.

Murray has been in Morocco since he fled there after participating in the largest bank raid in British history in 2006 -- he and six other associates allegedly stole more than $100 million. He sought protection from the Moroccan government because of his father being of Moroccan descent.

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