[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="340" caption="Valerie Macon/Getty Images "][/caption] Jake Shields was one of MMA’s most sought-after free agents before even becoming one. Although Stikeforce has first dibs at retaining their middleweight champion, Shields’ father/managers claim the San Jose, CA based organization has yet to make any offers. "The time is ticking," Jack Shields told SI.com. "We’d like to move forward as soon as possible. I’d like to be negotiating right now." Jake owns an impressive 25-4-1 professional record and ...

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Strikeforce formally announced on Saturday that Bobby Lashley, the former pro wrestling star who's trying to make it in mixed martial arts, will return to the cage on June 16 to fight Ron Sparks, giving Lashley an opponent who represents a tiny step forward toward actually getting challenged in MMA. If you didn't know better, you'd think Lashley had been impressive so far in his MMA career. Since becoming a pro fighter a year and a half ago, he's 5-0, with four first-round But if you actually saw Lashley's fights, you know better: Lashley's first three opponents -- Joshua Franklin, Jason Guida and Mike Cook -- ...

 I want to fight Fedor. Give me a fight with Fedor. Fedor, fight me. There are many variations on the theme, but the refrain is the same... Alistair Overeem wants to fight Fedor Emelianenko. With the Strikeforce heavyweight champion’s first round demolition of Brett Rogers on Saturday night, it would seem the fight could now happen. Not so fast. Remember, Fedor has another fight on his hands first. He is scheduled to face Fabricio Werdum in a Strikeforce and M-1 Global co-promotion on June 26 in San Jose, Calif. If he wins there then let’s talk. “I know Alistair would love to fight Fedor, and that's a conversation that will happen after June 26,” said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker on Saturday ...

The event formerly known as WEC 48 lived up to the pay-per-view price with a stacked card full of entertaining fights. That's all I have to say about the fights for two reasons: laziness and there are a million other blogs/websites detailing the same thing.  Besides, BR MMA writer Josh Carey was at the event and did a good enough job for all of us. That being the case, let's go another route and have a glance at UFC President Dana White's giddy smile, likely caused by the anticipation of the potential signing of Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields. In this photo, Dana reminds me of the chubby nerd ...