Returning to mixed martial arts after a successful tenure in boxing, former EliteXC Lightweight Champion “King” Karl James (KJ) Noons has signed a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce and is expected to make his promotional debut on January 30, 2010 in Sunrise, Florida.

Noons is most famous for his heated grudge match title fight with the ever-controversial Nick Diaz at EliteXC: “Renegade” in November of 2007, which Noons won when the cageside doctor stopped the fight after the first round due to cuts around Diaz’s eyes.

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The Strikeforce middleweight division became a lot more interesting today when the promotion announced the signing of “Marvellous” Melvin Manhoef, who is arguably the most feared striker in all of mixed martial arts and advanced to the semi-finals of the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix last year with a pair of vicious knockouts.

While his submission defence remains as a key weakness, Manhoef has shown that he has the ability to knock any opponent out and he will pose a very big threat to everyone in the Strikeforce 185-pound division.

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UFC welterweight contender Josh Koscheck may get a chance to avenge his humbling February knockout loss to Paulo Thiago, as the pair are reportedly set to compete in a rematch at UFC 109, which takes place just shy of one year after their first meeting at UFC 95.

On that night, Thiago shocked Koscheck with a two-punch combination that left the dazed TUF alum flat on his back, but Koscheck will aim to both avenge the loss and continue his climb back up the ranks when the two meet again in Las Vegas.

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With his extremely impressive WEC Featherweight Championship win over Mike Brown at WEC 44, Jose “Junior” Aldo claims the top spot in the 145-pound rankings, but a busy month of fights in November has resulted in many other changes among the divisions.

Fedor Emelianenko’s stoppage of Brett “The Grim” Rogers at Strikeforce: “Fedor vs Rogers” solidified his spot at the top of the heavyweight division, while Megumi Fujii once again showed why she is the top female fighter in the world at Shooto: “Revolutionary Exchanges 3.”

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According to a press release from M-1 Global earlier today, #1-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko’s historic Strikeforce debut against Brett “The Grim” Rogers drew a worldwide audience of over 25 million viewers, with 16 million people tuning in from Emelianenko’s home country, Russia.

The November 7th event, which aired live on CBS television in the United States and Canada, was watched by 5.46 million viewers in the United States alone. This was considered to be a big success and kept pace with two of the three EliteXC on CBS events from 2008.

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While the event’s headlining bout may lack star power, UFC 108 will feature a number of exciting welterweight fights between top contenders. British knockout artist Paul “Semtex” Daley will look to take another huge step towards a title shot when he meets final WEC Welterweight Champion “The Natural Born Killer” Carloes Condit.

Elsewhere, Daley’s most recent victim, Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann, will look to get back to his winning ways when he takes on hard-hitting former International Fight League standout Rory Markham.

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Originally set to square off with judo ace Yoshihiro Akiyama, former long-time PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva will now battle TUF 3 winner Michael “The Count” Bisping in a middleweight bout at UFC 110 at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Bisping redeemed himself after his brutal knockout loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 100 by systematically picking apart former top contender Denis “Super Korean” Kang at UFC 105 and will look to resume his climb up the ranks with a big win over the ultra-aggressive Silva.

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Less than two weeks after it was postponed from the upcoming UFC 108 card, a pivotal heavyweight bout between former PRIDE and UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira and undefeated rising star Cain Velasquez has been rescheduled for UFC 110 on February 21, 2010 in Australia.

Nogueira was forced to withdraw from the UFC 108 meeting due to another severe staph infection, but his twin brother Rogerio has since stated that he will be returning to training shortly.

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