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.

Strikeforce interim lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez has responded through Sherdog to claims by Mitsuhiro Ishida that he greased in his third-round knockout win at Saturday’s “Carano vs. Cyborg” event in San Jose:

“I did not grease in the fight. The athletic commission was with me the whole time. I didn’t bring any grease with me. I didn’t think there was much grappling in the fight anyway. It’s kind of funny, but kind of weak. I beat him good and there’s no way I greased.”

Strikeforce lightweight Mitsuhiro Ishida, who suffered a third-round knockout loss to interim lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez at Saturday’s “Carano vs. Cyborg” event in San Jose, has filed a verbal complaint with the California State Athletic Commission alleging that Melendez “greased” in the bout.

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.

Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson has been forced out of his scheduled rematch against interim 155-pound title-holder Gilbert Melendez after failing to be medically cleared for the contest, which was to take place at Strikeforce’s August 15 “Carano vs. Cyborg” event in San Jose, California.

The promotion has already secured a replacement, as Mitsuhiro Ishida will fill in for Thomson and take on Melendez in a rematch of their own with the interim title on the line.

The Fight Network is reporting that Rodrigo Damm (8-2) has been tapped to replace the injured Josh Thomson and square off with Melendez (14-2) at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

Josh Koscheck has been forced off UFC 98 due to a foot injury, UFC President Dana White will reportedly reduce his public UFC role, Strikeforce is considering a rematch between Mitsuhiro Ishida and Gilbert Melendez for its April 11th event, and more.

Masakazu Iminari, Hiroyuki Takaya, Yoshiro Maeda, Abel Cullum, Joe Warren, and Bibiano Fernandes advanced on Sunday at DREAM 7 into the second-round of the promotion's featherweight tournament. Tatsuya Kawajiri, Shinya Aoki, and Mitsuhiro Ishida picked up non-tournament victories.

Kazuo Misaki def. Joe Riggs via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 2:29
Josh Thomson def. Ashe Bowman via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:14
Terry Martin def. Cory Devela via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 2:08
Mitsuhiro Ishida def. Justin Wilcox via submission (armbar) – Round1, 1:21
Trevor Prangley def. Anthony Ruiz via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-26)
Luke [...]

Kazuo Misaki (185) vs. Joe Riggs (181.5)
Ashe Bowman (154.5) vs. Josh Thomson (155.5)
Mitsuhiro Ishida (156) vs. Justin Wilcox (155)
Cory Devela (185.5) vs. Terry Martin (185.5)
Trevor Prangley (203) vs. Anthony Ruiz (204)
Jesse Juarez (171) vs. Luke Stewart (169.5)
Eric Lawson (184.5) vs. Kenneth Seegrist (183)
Brandon Magana (172) vs. Brandon Thatch (170.5)
Jesse Gillespie (194) vs. Dave Martin [...]

Mitsuhiro “The Endless Fighter” Ishida (16-4-1) will make his US debut on September 20th when he takes on Justin “The Silverback” Wilcox (5-2) at Strikeforce at the Mansion 2.
A DREAM, PRIDE, and Shooto veteran, Ishida was defeated by top-ranked lightweight Takanori Gomi at PRIDE Shockwave 2006 then rebounded for back-to-back victories over Gilbert Melendez and [...]

Caol Uno def. Mitsuhiro Ishida via submission – Round 2
Lightweight Grand Prix Bout
Eddie Alvarez def. Joachim Hansen via unanimous decision
Lightweight Grand Prix Bout
Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Luiz Firmino via unanimous decision
Lightweight Grand Prix Bout
Jason Miller def. Katsuyori Shibata via TKO – Round 1
Middleweight Grand Prix Bout
Nick Diaz def. Katsuya Inoue via TKO – Round 1
DREAM Middleweight [...]