Tickets for the “Young Guns” event, priced from $40, can be purchased by calling Strikeforce corporate headquarters at 408-998-8232 or by visiting the Civic Auditorium box office, on the day of the event.

Both the 25-year-old Palacios and the 24-year-old Cacdac are looking to rebound from defeats that they suffered at Strikeforce’s last event, “Melendez vs. Thomson,” which took place at San Jose’s HP Pavilion on Friday, June 27th. Palacios gave up a three-round unanimous judges’ decision to Bobby Stack while Cacdac tapped out from a rear naked choke placed on him by Bryan Caraway in the first round of their matchup.

The “Young Guns” card will be comprised of the following matchups:

• Main Event: Jose Palacios (3-1) vs. Alvin Cacdac – 145 lb. limit
• Luke Rockhold (2-1) vs. TBA – 185 lb. limit
• Andrew Valladarez (3-2) vs. David Barrios (0-4) – 135 lb. limit
• Evan Esguerra (1-2) vs. Gabby Solorio (0-1) – 145 lb. limit
• Eric Meaders (2-8-1) vs. Ron Kesler (2-1) – 170 lb. limit
• Jorge Interiano (1-0) vs. Chris Bostick (2-2) – 205 lb. limit
• Yohan Banks (1-1) vs. David Ashkinaz (1-0) – Heavyweight (265 lb. limit)
• Adam Antolin (1-0) vs. Hugo Govea (0-1) – 130 lb. limit
• Justin Holdaas (1-1) vs. Jaime Rodriguez (0-1) – 170 lb. limit
• Genaro Strangis (0-0) vs. Alexander Trivino (2-0) – 155 lb. limit
• Mike Davis (0-0) vs. OJ Dominguez (0-0) – 155 lb. limit

The September 13th affair marks Strikeforce’s third “Young Guns” card in history. The series was forged in 2006 to nurture young upstarts by providing them with the opportunity to hone their martial arts combat skills in a grassroots environment.

Tanner is at it again and this time the former UFC middleweight champion is gearing up for a trip into the vast desert of Southern California:

“The idea going into the desert came to me soon after I moved to Oceanside. It was motivated by my friend Sara’s talk of treasure hunting and lost gold, and my own insatiable appetite for adventure and exploration. I began to imagine what might be found in the deep reaches of the untracked desert. It became an obsession of sorts…

One more week. I think one more week, and I’ll be ready to go.”

I’ve been gathering my gear for this adventure for over a month, not a long time by most standards, but far too long for my impatient nature. Being a minimalist by nature, wanting to carry only the essentials, and being extremely particular, it has been a little difficult to find just the right equipment. I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life. I’ve been doing a great deal of research and study. I want to know all I can about where I’m going, and I want to make sure I have the best equipment.

Good luck Evan, and be sure to watch out for those man-eating jack rabbits, and that killer cacti.

White was the spotlight of a recent Playboy interview, and for those too embarrassed to ask the clerk behind the counter at 7-Eleven for a copy, here is an excerpt (courtesy of F4WOnline)which further explores Dana’s well documented distaste for (surprise) Tito Ortiz:

“That big-mouthed bit*h, that clown. Back when he had the title, he refused to fight Chuck Liddell. He sat on the sidelines for a year and a half, crying, ‘Aww, I don’t have any money!’ So I brought him back and made him a coach on The Ultimate Fighter. That year he made more than $6 million, yet he bit*hes about me. Well, I put up with Tito’s sh*t when he was a decent fighter, but now he’s not and I don’t have to… Did you see what a wall flower he was on [The Celebrity Apprentice]? The guy has no presence. He was the idiot hiding in the back. If he actually did something, people would know how stupid he is.”

As harsh as Dana’s words appear, the man’s hatred of Tito is really nothing new. However it does seem that Mr. White has some piping fresh animosity for former UFC champion Tim Sylvia, who was thoroughly thrashed on two separate occasions this past week…

“Look, we cut Tim Sylvia, he couldn’t cut it in the UFC anymore.”

“Tim has been boring people for years.”

“But we all have to thank him [Emelianenko] for getting rid of Tim Sylvia. He’d been stinking out the joint the last couple of years and Fedor did everyone a favor by beating him so easily and getting rid of him.”

Lastly, Dana again ranted in his Playboy interview about how the UFC is taking over the professional sports empire, this time noting that the NFL will eventually be forced to take a backseat to the Zuffa operated promotion:

“What are the major sports in America right now? The NFL and Major League Baseball, with the NBA third. The NHL was fourth, but now we’re fourth, and we’re still in our infancy. Our ratings on Spike TV beat most of the major sports in our 18-to-34 demo. Last year we beat four Monday Night Football games in the demo. In eight years, the UFC will be bigger than the NFL, bigger than World Cup soccer. It will be the biggest sport in the world.”

I’m all for MMA getting bigger and better, but Dana’s tone just seems greedy and borderline comic book villainous. While White caps things off by stating “it will be the biggest sport in the world” he prefaces it with “the UFC will be bigger than the NFL”.

Not the sport of mixed martial arts as a whole, but the UFC.

– In a recent post at MMA.tv Jon Fitch revealed that he hopes to return to the octagon before the end of 2008. “I wasn’t that beat up. Just a little off in the head after the first dropedge. Im fine and will be back before the end of the year if I have any say in it,” wrote Fitch. [MMA.tv]

– “MMA Live”, ESPN.com’s MMA news show, could soon be headed to television according to UFC lightweight contender and show host Kenny Florian. [MMA Junkie]

– UFC veteran Sam Hoger will return from a 16-month layoff against Braden Bice at a September 19th World Championship Fighting Event in Wilmington, Massachussets. [MMA Junkie]

– Undefeated welterweight Lyman Good will soon sign with EliteXC. [The Fight Network]

– UFC newcomers Jim Miller and David Baron will square off at UFC 89 on October 18th in Birmingham, England. [MMA Weekly]

– Former professional wrestler Bobby Lashley will make his MMA debut at American Fight League’s first-ever pay-per-view event, which will likely be held in November. Details for the event, including a date, location, and PPV price, have not yet been announced but are expected to be revealed soon. Also in action will be Tara LaRosa, lightweight champion Diego Saraiva, welterweight champion Brent Weedman, middleweight champion George Lockhardt. UFC veterans Dan Christison, John Alessio, and Mike Van Arsdale may also fight at the fall event. [MMA Junkie]

“Sylvia claimed that he would be an outstanding boxer – basically better than anyone else.

“I’d love to be approached about a fight with a top heavyweight because I’d go out there and win.”

“I’ll fight any heavyweight boxer in the world. Twelve rounds and I’d beat him,” said Sylvia.

Not only did Sylvia express how good he was, but he also put out an open call to all boxing promoters.

Wow. I could go on and on about the difference between the sweet science and MMA all day but lets stick to Sylvia on this one. Tim Sylvia has average to good striking at best, and has always relied on his punching power and range much more so than his precision and technique. I do believe that Sylvia could probably beat up a few scrubs on the amateur and maybe even pro circuit based on size and reach alone, but trust when I say that the man could never, ever work over a top 10 boxing heavyweight in his wildest dreams. Sure Tim can knock people out with 4 ounce MMA gloves, but it is a completely different world when you put on the big red mitts against guys who have trained nothing but boxing their entire lives. Just ask Ricco Rodriguez.

On Kimbo’s last fight:

“When Kimbo fought Cantrell, that was the third time he’s been knocked out in under 30 seconds…the THIRD time! So is that a real fight? I mean come on! The guy tapped before he hit the matt – he was tapping on the way down.”

On Kimbo’s talent or, lack there of:

“Kimbo’s one of those guys who doesn’t have any ground game. He’s training and he’s learning but he’s been built up as such a big star and that’s the thing that bothers me. People talk about him like he’s the next great thing when he really hasn’t done anything.”

And to cap things off:

“He’s been built up because of the Internet and him beating a bunch of guys on the street. I could make some impressive knockout videos too if you let me walk outside and just punch people and knock them out – “hey you, come fight! F*** we can make a highlight reel tomorrow and go round beating people up and talk about it – we could just go up to people and start dropping them – wow.”

Okay, so Chuck Liddell dislikes Kimbo Slice, we get that. My question is why does Chuck so passionately hate a man he has likely never even shared the same room with? Liddell sounds awfully bitter toward Slice despite the fact that the two have never even met and as far as I know, Kimbo has never made any sort of public statement about the Iceman. You have to wonder if maybe the reporter stung Liddell with one too many Kimbo questions after which Chuck just snapped or something. I also find the volume of Liddell’s comments very surprising because, traditionally, Liddell had never struck me as a terribly outspoken guy apart from his little feud with Tito Ortiz.

Any how, even if Kimbo Slice fizzles out and fades like so many are hoping he will, at least the man is making a genuine attempt at professional fighting with a great trainer no less, and is from what I can tell taking his MMA path rather seriously. I’m not a huge Kimbo Slice fan but if I were Bas Rutten, I’d tell Kimbo to tune out whatever negativity fans or fighters are throwing out there, and just concentrate on becoming the best fighter you can be. I understand it’s easy to hate on Kimbo because of his unpolished street-thug reputation, but before we start cutting this guy down a la Chuck Liddell, let’s at least see what he can do once bigger fights start coming his way. I’m not convinced either way on Kimbo just yet but in the game of MMA, you never know who could become the next big thing.