With the recent re-scheduling of their initial UFC 106 bout Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin were slated to meet on January 2nd at UFC 108. However, the UFC heavyweight champion has been diagnosed with Mononucleosis (mono) forcing Lesnar to pull out of the January 2nd card. The illness which could keep Lesnar sidelined for up to 6 weeks would only give the Champion as little as two weeks to prepare for his title defense.

Additional situations pose similar problems for the Ultimate Fighting Championship as the likes of Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, and now Brock Lesnar are all medically absent from participating in near-future events. This leaves BJ Penn the only Title holder available to headline an event. George St. Pierre is just now returning to training and wont be ready for any surprise addition. Perhaps now Dana White will backtrack on his words and allow Chuck Liddell to headline yet another UFC event.

Strikeforce have been waiting for this moment since the acquisition of the consensus number 1 heavyweight in the world and the last Pride heavyweight champion – Fedor Emelianenko. This weekend their prize signing makes his debut against ruthless KO artist Bret “The Grim” Rogers; who like Emelianenko is coming off a brutal KO victory over former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski.

Rogers looking to make an impact in anyway possible, will be facing an uphill battle against the MMA legend that will surely mean fireworks in one of the most anticipated fights of the year.
Looking at the card top to bottom – Strikeforce has put together a solid line up to compliment a main event of such intrigue; the main card in all, is set to be just as intriguing as the main event.

Fabricio Werdum v Antonio Silva will kick off the card – and what i fight to get the crowd started.

Werdum being a multiple time Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world champion and ADCC regular is considered to be one of the premiere submission fighters in the world of mixed martial arts. Werdum is coming off a submission victory in which he caught tough veteran Mike Kyle in a guillotine choke, forcing the fight to be stopped at the 1:25 mark of the first round. Werdum recently added to his medal cabinet after he claimed victory in the ADCC +99kg category.

“Bigfoot” as he is known to fans is making his Strikeforce debut after spending his last two fights in Japan’s Sengoku events after the fall of EliteXC. Silva won his last fight with a slick submission over Australian Jim York – Silva choked his opponent out with a head arm triangle choke at the 3:50 mark of the first round.

Both Werdum and Silva are considered two of Brazil’s best heavyweight fighters and a match between the two is certainly worthy of being on such a high profile card – especially with Emelianenko on hand – with both fighters surely looking at a title fight in the future.

Both are also extremely well rounded with Werdum having the submission advantage and Silva a slight advantage standing – this fight could go anywhere and finish at anytime. Expect a real hard fought contest with both men doing everything possible to put the other man away and make an impact to gain attention.

Gegard Mousasi has burst onto the scene recently. Mousasi made his rise after taking the Dream middleweight title and more recently the Strikeforce light-heavyweight title. Mousasi over the past year and a half has beaten some of the biggest names in the sport such as “Babalu” Sobral, Denis Kang, Melvin Manhoef and heavyweight Mark Hunt.

Sobral looking to make a more permanent home at light-heavyweight will be facing another man who burst on to the scene impressively back in 2007 – Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.

Sokoudjou gained attention after knocking out two top 5 light-heavyweight fighters in Antonio Rogerio Noguiera and Ricardo Arona.  Sokoudjou has had mixed success of late and had a bitter sweet stint in the UFC – but now looks to make another shocking win over Mousasi his stepping stone back to the top of the rankings.

Mousasi by all accounts should have the advantage in this fight where ever it goes,  Sokoudjou has powerful strikes and a solid kickboxing game but it may not be enough for the enigmatic Mousasi who was able to TKO Japanese kick-boxer Musashi in K1 last year. Mousasi has also proven to have a very good ground game and has developed vicious ground and pound as seen against Sobral in his Strikeforce title win. Expect a tactics to come into play as both these fighters will look for openings to finish standing, Sokoudjou will most likely be the more desperate of the two as Mousasi will look to implement both his ground game and striking if the opening comes to pass.

To make up the main card is Cesar Gracie student and the last EliteXC welterweight champion, Jake Shields. Shields will take on always tough, always entertaining – Jason “Mayhem” Miller. This fight has the added bonus for the winner in the form of the Strikeforce middleweight championship.

Shields comes in with one of the best ground games in the division and record filled with wins that can only be considered a who’s who of the MMA world. Some of his victims are Robbie Lawler, Paul Daley, Yushin Okami, Hayato Sakurai and Carlos Condit. Shields has long been considered one of the best in the world and is still gaining skill in all areas of the game.

The popular Mayhem is coming off a disappointing no contest after he landed an illegal kick to “Jacare” de Souza in their Dream middleweight title bout in May. Before that Miller managed a victory over tough Hawaiian Kala Hose by rear-naked choke.

Both fighters are well rounded and capable of striking well, but both their strengths lay in their ground game. Shields the Gracie Jiu Jitsu black belt will take the edge here, but Miller showed he is very capable of defending world class jiu jitsu artists as he survived submission attempt after submission attempt from Jacare in their first bout. Whether he can do the same against Shields who is renowned for finding ways to to win via submission is something that we’ll just have to wait and see.

A very good card from Strikeforce and one that should make for a very exciting night of fights.

UFC light-heavyweight champion, Lyoto Machida, underwent surgery on his hand, pushing his rematch with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua later then fans would like.  MMAJunkie.com spoke with Machida’s manager, Ed Soares, who confirmed that the surgery will limit his training till mid-January.

“He had surgery yesterday on his left hand,” Soares said. “The doctor said it was a complete success.”  Soares further noted the surgery addressed a set of lingering issues Machida has had with his hand, issues that may have effect his performance in his controversial fight with “Shogun” on Oct. 24; UFC 104.  “Lyoto’s hand has been actually injured for a while,” Soares said. “Before the fight with ‘Shogun,’ he went to the doctor, and he went to a special surgeon in Brazil. Basically, they say said that he was going to need surgery, but he didn’t want to cancel the fight.”

Soares went on to say he was not suggesting Machida’s hand issues played a role in what many believe was a lackluster performance from Lyoto Machida.  “We’re not trying to make any excuses or anything… But his injury has been bothering him for a while, so we went in and had the surgery, and they found bone spurs. They found a bone fragment down there. There were about four things the doctor said were causing him pain. Thank God they cleared him all up yesterday.”

While the surgery will leave Machida inactive for at least 6 weeks according to Soares, fight fans can not wait for this rematch, and neither can Machida.  “We want that fight,” Machida said. “We want to leave no doubt who the light heavyweight champion is.”