Strikeforce’s August 15 event, “Carano v. Cyborg” has already seen its fair share of line up changes, with fighters withdrawing from bouts, and other fights being added to the card. Unfortunately that may not yet be over with, as Josh Thomson may be forced to withdraw from his scheduled lightweight title defense against Gilbert Melendez.

A title bout between Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Gegard Mousasi originally scheduled for Affliction’s recently-canceled August 1 “Trilogy” event is now set to take place at Strikeforce’s August 15 card in San Jose, California.

Strikeforce announced the fight on Monday, officially adding it to the Showtime-televised card that also includes Gina Carano vs. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos for the first-ever Strikeforce 145-pound women’s championship and a lightweight title unification between Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez.

Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports has updated his earlier report, which said a merger between Strikeforce and Affliction was already or nearly completed, to instead reveal that Affliction will no longer promote MMA events and will instead become a UFC sponsor, though at this moment the fate of its contracted fighters is unknown.

Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole breaks news that a merger between Strikeforce and Affliction is in the works or may already be completed, though perhaps more interesting is the deal that didn’t happen with the UFC:

“Several sources have said that Affliction and Strikeforce will have some type of merger with Strikeforce retaining its name. Affliction’s Tom Atencio denied any merger is imminent, and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker is in Italy on vacation and couldn’t be reached for comment. However, two independent sources told Yahoo! Sports a deal is either completed or on the verge of completion.”

Joe RiggsJoe Riggs has been forced to withdraw from his rematch with Nick Diaz after suffering a “bad reaction to an as of yet undisclosed drug,” according to GracieMag.com.

The bout for the newly-created Strikeforce Welterweight Championship was set to be featured on the Showtime-broadcast of Strikeforce’s August 15 event, which takes place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. Diaz will reportedly remain on the card, taking on an opponent to-be-named, which is expected to be announced soon.

Fabricio Werdum and Brett Rogers, Strikeforce heavyweight contenders mentioned as possible replacements for Josh Barnett, will not be fighting Fedor Emelianenko on August 1 at Affliction: Trilogy.

“It’s safe to say neither Fabricio or Brett will be fighting on Aug. 1,” Strikeforce Director of Communications Mike Afromowitz told MMAjunkie. “The plan is still for Fabricio to fight on Aug. 15, and we hope to have an opponent named soon. As for Brett, nothing is finalized, but he won’t be fighting on Aug. 1.”

Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem has withdrawn from his scheduled August 15 title defense against Fabricio Werdum as his hand has still not healed from an injury suffered in a May altercation at an Amsterdam nightclub.

Fanhouse was first to report the withdrawal on Tuesday, adding that Overeem will remain on the card against a different opponent, with it yet to be decided whether an interim title will be on the line for the new matchup.

Ricardo Arona vs. Marvin Eastman, Paulo Filho vs. Alex Schoenauer, and Pedro Rizzo vs. Jeff Monson are set for Bitetti Combat on September 12 in Brazil, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal will face Don Frye at M-1 Global’s “Breakthrough” event on August 28 in Los Angeles, Eliot Marshall vs. Jason Brilz has been added to UFC 103, and the Palace Fighting Championship has ceased operations.

Read all about these stories and more in MMAFrenzy.com’s latest quick hits…

Strikeforce heavyweight Lavar Johnson continues to recover from a serious abdomen wound suffered in a 4th of July shooting incident in Bakersfield, California, and is expected to soon be released from the hospital.

Fanhouse was told on Tuesday that Johnson would “soon” be released, but that the life-threatening injuries won’t end his MMA career.

One of the nagging questions for MMA fans over the past sixteen months has been "When will Cung Le defend his middleweight title?" The answer to that question seems to be, "Not any time soon." It is now being reported that former EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shields will be challenging for an interim belt at middleweight, while the promotion waits on Le to return to fighting.

When welterweights Nick Diaz and Joe Riggs square off in a rematch at Strikeforce’s August 15 event the promotion’s newly-created 170-pound title will be on the line, according to MMA Weekly.

The Showtime-televised event, which takes place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, features three other title bouts as Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos meet for the Strikeforce 145-pound Women’s Championship, heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem takes on Fabricio Werdum, and lightweight champions Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez unify their titles.

Strikeforce today announced that the promotion’s heavyweight title-holder Alistair Overeem will defend his title against Fabricio Werdum at its August 15 “Carano vs. Cyborg” event in San Jose, California.

The long-rumored matchup is the third championship bout on the Showtime-televised card, joining Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, who meet for the newly-created Strikeforce 145-pound Women’s Championship, as well as a lightweight title unification and rematch between Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez. Nick Diaz vs. Joe Riggs is also expected to be featured on the event’s main card.

Strikeforce heavyweight Lavar Johnson (12-3), a veteran of the PFC and WEC, has been hospitalized after sustaining what is being called a “serious gunshot wound to his abdomen” in an early-Sunday incident in Bakersfield, California that left another dead and three others wounded.

Johnson was last in action in May, scoring an 18-second knockout of Carl Seumanutafa at the debut Strikeforce Challengers event to extend his current winning streak to five-straight.

Luiz Cane says he’d like to fight fellow light heavyweight contender Rich Franklin, heavyweight prospect Bobby Lashley will next fight in September, and Diego Sanchez will get the next lightweight title shot against the BJ Penn-Kenny Florian.

Also, the MMAFrenzy.com rumors section has been completely updated.

For the latest MMA news check out MMAFrenzy.com’s Quick Hits…

Nick Diaz and Joe Riggs are likely to square off in a welterweight bout on the Showtime-televised main card at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg on August 15 in San Jose.

Though not yet signed, the bout is reportedly in the works for the event and both fighters are expected to agree to the rematch of their early-2006 meeting at UFC 57 which was won by Riggs via unanimous decision.