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.

Fedor Emelianenko’s Strikeforce debut has been pushed back from a rumored October date to November, with Brett Rogers and Fabricio Werdum the front-runners to fight the top-ranked heavyweight.

In other Strikeforce news, the promotion is planning a Nick Diaz vs. Jay Hieron welterweight title fight by year’s end and 145-pound women’s champion Cris “Cyborg” Santos could fight Marloes Coenen in her first title defense. Read about these stories and more after the jump in MMAFrenzy.com’s Strikeforce roundup.

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.

For the second time in less than a week, Nick Diaz failed to show for a mandatory pre-fight drug test, with his Monday no-show causing him to be removed from his Saturday Strikeforce middleweight championship matchup against Jay Hieron.

As reported earlier Monday, Diaz will be replaced on the August 15 “Carano vs. Cyborg” card in San Jose by one-time UFC fighter Jesse Taylor, who is currently riding a seven-fight winning streak. Taylor and Hieron will meet in a three-round, non-title fight on the Showtime-televised card.

One-time UFC fighter and controversial TUF 7 cast member Jesse Taylor has reportedly been approved by the California State Athletic Commission to replace Nick Diaz and fight Jay Hieron at Saturday’s “Carano vs. Cyborg” Strikeforce event in San Jose should Diaz fail to be licensed for the bout.

A plea deal by Jeff Monson on charges of painting graffiti on the Washington Capital could force him to withdraw from several scheduled fight abroad, while a trio of bouts has been added to the lineup for the September 2 WEC 43 event in Youngstown, Ohio.

Details on these stories and the latest MMA news and notes in MMAFrenzy.com’s latest quick hits…

Nick Diaz will likely fight Jay Hieron at Strikeforce’s August 15 event in San Jose after his original opponent, Joe Riggs, was forced to withdraw from the bout last week.

Strikeforce has yet to confirm the reported matchup and whether it will be for the promotion’s newly-created welterweight title.

On Thursday, Affliction officially announced the majority of the lineup for its August 1 Affliction: Trilogy event, which will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California and air live on pay-per-view and HDNet.

Trilogy is headlined by a heavyweight matchup between top-ranked Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett.

Also confirmed for the pay-per-view main card are Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato Sobral, Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago, and Paul Daley vs. Jay Hieron, as well as Paul Buentello, who is expected to take on the winner of a June 27 bout between Pedro Rizzo and Gilbert Yvel.

Nick Diaz, who defeated former Strikeforce middleweight champion Frank Shamrock via second-round TKO in a 179-pound catchweight bout in April, will return to the 170-pound welterweight division following his June 6th 180-pound catchweight showdown with Scott Smith.

Bobby Green will make his Affliction debut on short notice this Saturday at  “Day of Reckoning” against Dan Lauzon, replacing an injured Chris Horodecki who was forced off the card yesterday after failing to receive medical clearance for the fight due to a bulging disc in his neck.
Despite the newly booked matchup still airing on [...]

Rick Roufus, a highly-decorated championship kickboxer, will meet UFC veteran Hector Ramirez in the main event of Saturday’s “Night of Combat 2″at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The nine-bout card, which features a number of Xtreme Couture fighters, was organized on short-notice after Affliction vacated the venue with their recent postponement of “Day [...]

Affliction on Sunday confirmed to MMA News the finalized official fight card for Affliction “Day or Reckoning”, which takes place on October 11th at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Five preliminary “Day of Reckoning” bouts will air live on HDNet while six main card fights, including the heavyweight main event featuring former [...]

Former International Fight League welterweight champion Jay Hieron (15-4) has agreed to take on UFC veteran Drew Fickett (35-6) at Affliction “Day of Reckoning” on October 11th, according to Sherdog.
Also, Matt Lindland (21-5) has found an opponent for his “Day of Reckoning” bout as he will meet UFC veteran Trevor Prangley (17-5) on the pay-per-view [...]

Middleweights Vitor Belfort and Matt Lindland will square off on the main card of Affliction “Day of Reckoning”, which takes place on October 11th in Las Vegas and airs on pay-per-view.
Belfort (17-8) defeated Terry Martin at Affliction’s first-ever event in July, but is currently serving a 180-day medical suspension and will need to be cleared [...]