Gina Carano, the so-called “Face of Women’s MMA” and Strikeforce contender, is one of six athletes who will be featured on the cover of ESPN The Magazine’s upcoming “The Body” Issue, which debuts on newstands on October 18 as competition to Sport Illustrated’s popular swimsuit issue. A full-size photo is after the jump…

Gina Carano, fresh off her first career loss to Cris “Cyborg” at an August 15 Strikeforce event, will star in the upcoming spy thriller “Knockout” before returning to the cage, Variety reports. Production for the film is slated to begin in January, sidelining Carano until mid-2010 at the earliest.

Headliner Gina Carano was the top earner at Saturday’s Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg event in San Jose, receiving $125,000 for her main event loss to Cris “Cyborg” Santos, who earned $25,000 for the first-round TKO victory.

Renato “Babalu” Sobral ($70,000), Jay Hieron ($55,000), Gilbert Melendez ($50,000), and Fabricio Werdum ($50,000) were also among the top earners for the event, according to the official fighter salaries released by the California State Athletic Commission on Tuesday.

Cris “Cyborg” Santos needed less than one round to become the first-ever Strikeforce 145-pound women’s champion, knocking out Gina Carano in the opening round of Saturday’s Strikeforce headliner at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

In other main card bouts, Gegard Mousasi became the new Strikeforce light heavyweight champion with a 60-second knockout of Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Gilbert Melendez retained the promotion’s interim lightweight title with a third-round TKO of Mitsuhiro Ishida, and heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum submitted Mike Kyle in the opening round to kick off the Showtime broadcast.

“Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg” headliners Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, who meet for the newly-created Strikeforce 145-pound Women’s Championship in Saturday’s Showtime-televised main event, successfully made weight for the matchup at Friday’s official weigh-ins in San Jose, California.

The rest of the 18-fighter card also successfully made weight with the exception of Jesse Taylor, who weighed in one pound over the welterweight limit for his main card bout against Jay Hieron.

Originally rumored to be a participant on the August 15th “Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg” fight card, Erin Toughill has instead been tapped as a reserve combatant for the events headlining bout. Should either of the scheduled participants, Gina Carano or Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, be forced to withdraw, Toughill will take their place.

The complete rumored cast for TUF 10 has been revealed, Urijah Faber has been medically suspended until December 4th, the UFC is interested in Josh Barnett if he can beat Fedor, Wanderlei Silva is calling for a rematch with Rich Franklin, and much more in MMAFrenzy.com's latest Quick Hits.

Strikeforce has now made another contribution to the world of MMA, particularly women’s MMA. Strikeforce is already the largest promoter to feature female fights. They have also given women the first North American headlining slot with Gina Carano vs. Christiane “Cyborg” Santos on August 15. Now they have added to that list the first two female bouts to be contested with five minute rounds.

The winner of the anticipated August 15th matchup between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos will be crowned the first-ever Strikefore 145-pound women's champion, the promotion recently announced. Carano-Cyborg, which will feature 5 3-minute rounds as opposed to the 5 5-minute rounds of male title bouts, headlines the Showtime-televised card at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

The highly-anticipated female MMA showdown between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos will finally take place at an August 15th Strikeforce event, the promotion announced on Saturday. A rematch between lightweight title-holders Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez is also scheduled for the card.

Four of the most popular and accomplished champions in mixed martial arts, Dan Henderson, Cung Le, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Matt Serra, have partnered with Round 5, the leading producer of MMA collectibles, to create figurines that will be included in an expanded Series 4, it was announced today by Barron Lau, Round 5 CEO and co-founder and Damon Lau, president and co-founder.

A women's superfight between Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg is likely to take place in Strikeforce in August, Scott Smith suffered a shattered hand in Saturday's loss, DREAM has announced their featherweight grand prix pairings, and more...

Check out official photos after the jump of Nick Diaz, Gina Carano, Brett Rogers, Scott Smith, Gilbert Melendez, Cris Cyborg and more from Saturday's Strikeforce event at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.

Jon Fitch has signed a five-fight extension with the UFC, Bellator has announced the complete lineups for its first three events, Kendall Grove and Matt Riddle vs. Dan Cramer have been added to UFC 101, and more...

PRESS RELEASE; MARKHAM, Ontario, Canada, February 24, 2009 – Known to many as the “face of female mixed martial arts,” Gina “Conviction” Carano has parlayed great ability in the cage and a glamorous look out of it to burst onto the MMA scene and in many ways transcended the sport. Now, the unbeaten star has [...]