Ratings for this past weekend's Showtime-televised Strikeforce Challengers 9 event proved solid as the show averaged an audience of 197,000 viewers, an industry source today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

The peak audience actually came for the night's co-main event, a title fight between women's welterweight champ Sarah Kaufman and challenger Roxanne Modaferri that spiked with 254,000 viewers.

American Top Team lightweight contender "JZ" Cavalcante has signed with Strikeforce. The Brazilian born Cavalcante, who is 14-3-1 (1 NC), has been a fixture in the K-1 and Dream circuit for years. Plagued with a plethora of injuries, he hasn't fought since May of 2009. Coming off of a no contest and a loss to Shinya Aoki, as well as a loss to Tatsuya Kawajiri in Dream, Cavalcante is hoping to rebound in a new organization.

While quarter-hour figures, which often rise during mixed martial arts events, were not released, the sources indicated that the "Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery" broadcast peaked during the main event of Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers with 448,000 viewers

A lightweight matchup between Pat Healy (22-15 MMA, 0-0 SF) and Bryan Travers (13-1 MMA, 0-0 SF) is in the works for Strikeforce Challengers 8.

Sources close to the event on Monday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that both fighters have agreed to the fight and bout agreements are expected to be finalized shortly.

Strikeforce Challengers 8 takes place May 21 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore., and airs on Showtime. The promotion announced Monday that Oregon-based fighter Matt Lindland is scheduled to headline the event against an opponent to be announced

RUmored Card

Matt Linland vs tba
Tyron Woodley vs Nathan Coy
Kerry Vera vs Julianna Pena
Bryan Travers v Pat Healy
Roger Bowling vs tba

With a new promo featuring all main fighters

Tyron Woodley and Kerry Vera have both been tapped to fight at Strikeforce Challengers 8 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore., Sherdog.com has learned from multiple sources. The event series, which spotlights the promotion’s up-and-coming talent, will air live on Showtime.

This past weekend's Strikeforce Challengers 7 event, which featured notable prospects such as Lavar Johnson and Miesha Tate, drew a 1.0 rating and a total average audience of 316,000 viewers on Showtime, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) confirmed with an industry source.

Compared to February's Strikeforce Challengers 6 event, which averaged just 150,000 viewers, ratings for the March 26 event were up a staggering 111 percent.

Of course, the event benefited from Showtime's "free preview" weekend, which allowed tens of millions of otherwise non-viewers to watch the premium cable channel's content at no charge.

The most recent Strikeforce Challengers card, headlined by a heavyweight fight between undefeated Lavar "Big" Johnson and Hawaiian Lolohea Mahe, drew 4,963 attendees to the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif., for a live gate of $109,222.

MMAjunkie.com recently requested and today received the official figures for the March 26 event from the California State Athletic Commission.

The report did not state how many, if any, of the tickets were issued complimentary.

LET'S GET IT ON MMA (LGIO) Monday announced that it has struck a major deal with STRIKEFORCE, one of the leading promotions in the MMA industry. In addition to the $25,000 prize money awarded to both the Canadian 155-pound and 170-pound LGIO tournament winners, STRIKEFORCE will award both champions fight contracts in its Challenger Series

ESPN's wildly successful web show "MMA Live" is finally getting the recognition it deserves.

MMAmania.com has learned that host Jon Anik along with analysts Franklin McNeil and Kenny Florian will soon bring their mixed martial arts news, highlights and analysis to the world's biggest sports network on ESPN2

The speculation about the return of Fedor Emelianenko has been running rampant ever since the Russian heavyweight was not one of the fighters scheduled to compete on the upcoming Strikeforce on CBS show on April 17.

The former Pride champion has been rumored to face former UFC fighter Fabricio Werdum for months, while new rumors have popped up saying he will next compete in Japan against Hidehiko Yoshida in his retirement match.

Strikeforce president Scott Coker addressed the rumors and put to bed much of the speculation around where Fedor would be fighting next when he spoke to reporters following Dream 13 on Monday in Japan.

"M-1 Global and Strikeforce entered into a three fight contract exclusive for Fedor to fight in a co-promotion between Strikeforce and M-1 Global, and as you know we did the first fight on Nov 7 in Chicago," said Coker.

"Fedor is now scheduled to fight in June towards the end of the month in America against Fabricio Werdum."

joachim hansen,josh barnett,vladimir matyushenko

Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le suffered the first loss of his MMA career this past December but could be back in the cage at a Strikeforce event planned for June.

Le (6-1 MMA, 6-1 SF) has already begun a campaign to rematch the man who handed him his first loss, Scott Smith, who scored a come-from-behind TKO victory when they met at "Strikeforce: Evolution."

But Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Le, who vacated the middleweight prior to the December fight due to a blossoming film career, could face former champion Frank Shamrock instead.

Roger Gracie will make his May-15 StrikeForce debut against Kevin Randleman, the Gracie just confirmed to GRACIEMAG.com.

"I should head to New York about three weeks before it, to do prep-work at Renzo’s academy," added the current world absolute champion of Jiu-Jitsu.

The black belt has two MMA wins on his record, one from 2006 and the other from 2008, in contrast to the American wrestler’s 31 MMA fights, with 17 wins and 14 losses.

Cody Floyd will take on Thomas Campbell at "Strikeforce: Nashville" on April 17, 2010. It will be the pro debut for both fighters.

NASHVILLE – Two of the country’s top amateurs will make their pro debut when Strikeforce makes its first visit to Nashville, Tenn., next month.

ProMMAnow.com has learned that Cody Floyd (5-0 am, 0-0 pro), who fights for AGEMA Fight Team out of Tupelo BJJ, will take on SSF Academy’s Thomas Campbell (17-2-1 am, 0-0) in a featherweight showdown at "Strikeforce: Nashville" on April 17. The fight has been confirmed by sources close to both camps.

heavyweight bout between Daniel Cormier and John Devine has been added to Strikeforce Challengers 7 on March 26 at the SaveMart Center in Fresno, Calif., the promotion confirmed on Saturday.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said the preliminary matchup could air on Showtime if times permits. Returning heavyweight Lavar Johnson will meet undefeated Lolohea Mahe in the main event.

Saturday, March 13 at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on MTV2

WHO: STRIKEFORCE World Lightweight Champion Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez

MMA Superstar & MTV "Bully Beatdown" Host Jason "Mayhem" Miller

Undefeated World Light Heavyweight Championship Challenger "King Mo"

Top Women’s MMA Prospect Miesha "Takedown" Tate

Rising STRIKEFORCE Middleweight Star Luke Rockhold

WHAT: Count down of the week’s top music videos on "Rock N Jock" on MTV2.

Roger Gracie (2-0 MMA, 0-0 SF), a 2005 ADCC champion, finally is set to make his Strikeforce debut on May 15.

Sources close to the event told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman (17-14 MMA, 0-1 SF) is the leading candidate to face the grappling ace at the as-yet-unannounced show, which is likely to be hosted by the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., and air live on Showtime.

EA has been busy showing off the progress they’ve made on their upcoming EA Sports MMA title at the Game Developers Conference. Here’s a quick rundown of the latest details.

* Total Strike Control: Similar to Fight Night Round 4, the game’s entire striking system will be controlled by the right analog stick, but for those of us who aren’t in love with that idea, the striking controls can be remapped to the controller’s face buttons.
* Controller’s rumble technology will be used to tip off player when opponent is preparing to attempt grappling transition
* Three separate health meters for head, torso and legs with appropriate damage modeling, won’t be seen in the HUD
* Stamina meter which replenishes itself, max stamina will gradually decrease as the fight wears on, will be seen in the HUD
* Hexagon and circle cages and square rings will be featured as seen in the latest batch of screenshots
* Three rule set options: Unified rules, Strikeforce rules (no elbows on the ground), Japanese rules (foot stomps!)
* Flashy ring entrances complete with their own music and walk down the ramp
* Primary attributes: stand up, clinch, ground, submission, and health, focus on one specific fight style
* Unique fighter specific fighting stances and styles as seen with Nick Diaz and Cung Le in the latest screenshots
* Jimmy Lennon Jr. ring announcer, Big John McCarthy referee