With UFC 106 looming on Saturday evening, many fans will be itching for some relevant MMA action to get them in the mood for the big event tomorrow. Fortunately for us, Strikeforce has come through to fill your need. The fifth installment of Strikeforce's Challengers series (ShoMMA) will take place this evening from the Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, and it will air live on Showtime at 11 PM EST (Delayed on the West Coast).

The card will be headlined by a welterweight bout between Missouri wrestling standout and two-time NCAA D-I All-American Tyron Woodley and Kansas City-native and Chinese Kenpo black belt Rudy Bears. Also featured on the card will be a women's bout featuring the same names as the main event from UFC 105. Brandon Vera's wife, Kerry Vera, will battle Randy Couture's former wife, Kim Couture, in a 135 lb. women's division contest. It will only be Vera's second fight and Couture's third fight professionally. Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante will also make his return against Aaron Rosa on this card.

 
Welterweight: Tyron Woodley (5-0) vs. Rudy Bears (10-3)

Woodley's NCAA credentials should be the deciding factor in this fight. He has the ability to be a dominating force on the floor, and his submission game is good enough to get him through some of the lower-echelon fights at this stage in his career. There was some criticism of Woodley in the Zach Light fight as Light gave up some pretty bad positions in the first round, and Woodley was unable to sink in submissions that were there for the taking. Regardless of those faults, Woodley is still a rather green competitor who should hopefully show some improvement in this bout.

Bears has a solid Brazilian jiu-jitsu background coupled with the accolades of being a kickboxer who has won regional ISKA events and titles. He'll be looking to pummel Woodley with strikes early, but he should be adept enough to ward off some attempts by Woodley on the ground. The problem is that Woodley's strength and wrestling should be able overcome Bears' jiu-jitsu tactics on his way to a dominating victory. Tyron Woodley should improve his record to 6-0 in this contest.

Women's Division (135 lbs.): Kim Couture (1-1) vs. Kerry Vera (1-0)

I'm really not sure what to say about this fight. Kim Couture looked absolutely awful against both Kim Rose and Lina Kvokov in her previous professional bouts. She actually broke her jaw in half in one of those match-ups and was commended for her toughness. While she definitely showed she was a tough competitor, a jaw breakage doesn't inspire confidence in anyone thinking she'll win against an adept puncher like Vera.

Kerry's debut against Leslie Smith was quite impressive in comparison to that of Couture's debut. She was very quick with her feet, throwing quick lefts and rights and mixing overhands, some decent kicks, and good technique in her delivery. While she didn't show tremendous power, she did manage to land significantly more than her opponent.

Kerry should take this via decision and batter Kim Couture with punches. I don't see how Couture can handle Vera's speed unless she's improved substantially over the last year.

SBN coverage of Strikeforce Challengers: Woodley vs. Bears

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The Heavy.com crew caught up with Tito Ortiz who discussed his strategy heading into the fight with Forrest Griffin this Saturday.  Here's the video of that interview:

Let’s see if Forrest can take the pounding.  Let’s see if he can defend the shot when he kicks. Because every time he kicks he’s going to get taken down. A lot of fighters don’t take advantage of that. When they see Forrest kick they try to check all the kicks. To hell with that. I’m putting him on his back and it’s back to the old Tito Ortiz man. I might ground and pound. It’s lethal. The first round it will be lethal. If he survives, the second round will be the same thing. If he lasts through that, the third round will be the same thing. They’ll be carrying him out on a stretcher.

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

With every other UFC champ on the shelf for an indeterminate time due to injuries, Dana White better cross his fingers and hope that whoever wins the UFC 107 title fight between #1 B.J. Penn and #7 Diego Sanchez emerges from the fight injury-free and ready to fight soon. Sanchez is relatively under-accomplished at 155 lbs but his size and aggression present a legitimate threat to the fearsome Penn.

#2 Shinya Aoki will face #9 Tatsuya Kawajiri at K-1 Dynamite! on New Year's Eve. That is a very dangerous fight for Aoki as Kawajiri's fearsome ground and pound plays right into his weak spot, but there has been more buzz for Aoki's potential plans to fight in Strikeforce than for his NYE title defense.

#3 Eddie Alvarez took a hard-fought win over Katsunori Kikuno at DREAM.12 in October, puncturing some of the hype for the rising Japanese Karateka. No word on what's next for Alvarez. Bellator has announced its new TV deal will cover a new season of fights starting in April, so it's possible Alvarez will not fight again before that.

#4 Kenny Florian takes on #18 Clay Guida at UFC 107. Florian is in a bit of a career cul-de-sac after losing his second title fight to B.J. Penn at UFC 101, a win over the very tough Guida will keep Florian in the upper-ranks of the division. Conversely, a win for Guida could put the popular scrapper into title contention for the first time in his UFC career.

#5 Frankie Edgar squares off with #19 Kurt Pellegrino will face late substitute Matt Veach at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in December. If the favored Edgar wins, he'll have to be pulling for #17 Nate Diaz to get the upset over #6 Gray Maynard at Ultimate Fight Night 20 in January. The loss to Maynard is the only blemish on Edgar's otherwise stellar UFC record and it would seem that one of them is next in line for a title shot.

#8 Sean Sherk will be facing Rafaello Oliveira at UFC 108. This would seem to be a gimme fight to let Sherk come back from the injury that forced him out of UFC 103 -- where Oliveira dropped a decision on the undercard to Sherk's training partner Nik Lentz.

#21 Takanori Gomi might not be the world-beater that he once was, but his current trip to the U.S. where he is rumored to be in talks with Strikeforce and the UFC is creating some buzz online.

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One of the highly-anticipated battles that will take place at UFC 106 will be a welterweight showdown between rising star Anthony "Rumble" Johnson (8-2, 5-2 UFC) and UFC veteran and The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 contestant Josh Koscheck (13-4, 11-4 UFC). The bout will feature the Sanshou striking prowess and wrestling of Johnson versus Koscheck's NCAA Division I wrestling pedigree combined with a newfound powerful striking game, a recipe for fireworks. Johnson enters the contest with three straight victories with his most recent coming only a month ago at UFC 104 against Yoshiyuki Yoshida. Koscheck crushed Frank Trigg in his last outing at UFC 103 in only 1:25 via TKO.

On paper, this is a pretty even match-up with Johnson's striking background and training with Sanshou expert Cung Le as his distinct advantage in the stand-up department. There is, however, a huge disparity in their perceived wrestling ability. Johnson was a national champion in college at Lassen Community College while Koscheck was a four-time NCAA Division I All-American with one NCAA title at Edinboro University. On paper, Koscheck obviously has a huge edge in terms of wrestling talent over his competition.

Unfortunately for Koscheck, MMA has a strange way of making these wide gaps in backgrounds become less of an issue due to the striking aspect of the sport. Johnson's length and strikes could make it a difficult task for Koscheck to explode for takedowns, but if Koscheck can manage to pull down Johnson -- he should be able to win the ground war with his better wrestling skills. If Johnson can tag him with strikes before that happens, Koscheck may be hindered from shooting to avoid that type of damage, which would completely nullify Koscheck's offense.

Johnson does have some physical gifts that will pose problems for Koscheck in a scramble for takedowns however. He cuts down heavily from around 185-195 while walking around well over 200 pounds. At fight time, he'll likely balloon to 180-190, and Koscheck will have to deal with that added wieght and the length of Johnson. After all, Johnson is nearly 4" taller than Koscheck.

Koscheck's heavy-handed striking ability will probably be nullified by Johnson's reach and kicks. He has a lot of power, and it'll be a huge mistake for Koscheck to try to wade through his reach to pummel his chin. It wouldn't surprise me if he tried though, but I think Koscheck's ultimate means to win this fight come in his conditioning and wrestling.

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Brock Lesnar's friend and BJJ trainer talks to TMZ.com:

"Brock is getting better and that is the most important thing ... He will be fine and be fighting again within 6 months."

"I can just say that the heavyweights can stop laughing and get ready to start crying because the champion will be back soon."

There is still no official word from the UFC or Brock Lesnar on his return.

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

#1 Georges St Pierre's tyranny over the Welterweight division has been on hold since he tore an abductor muscle in his victory over #3 Thiago Alves at UFC 100 in July. Word is he'll be able to return in March where he'll face #11 Dan Hardy (note that these rankings don't account for Hardy's win over #5 Mike Swick at UFC 105). GSP may be looking past Hardy, however, he's putting on weight and talking about moving up to face middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

Hardy's rapid rise is a testament to the role of luck in MMA. Had multiple injuries not intervened, Swick would have faced #12 Martin Kampmann at UFC 103 for the title shot and Hardy would have fought #30 Dong Hyun "Stun Gun" Kim in a fight with no title implications. But luck can only do so much, and once he was given the opportunity, Hardy seized the initiative. Time will tell if the hard-hitting Brit is ready for the powerful and well-rounded GSP.

Speaking of (bad) luck, #2 Jon Fitch was going to face #3 Alves at UFC 107, in an epic fight that could very well have put the winner right back into immediate title contention. But then Alves hurt his knee. Instead he'll face the tough but utterly unheralded Mike Pierce in a fight with no upside for Fitch beyond a pay day.

#4 Josh Koscheck has a chance to make people forget his losses to Alves and #7 Paul Thiago when he faces #16 Anthony Johnson in the co-main event at this weekend's UFC 106. Johnson is much hotter than his ranking reflects and the high profile nature of the fight will bring a lot of momentum to the career of the winner. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the winner of this fight get a title shot -- provided that they win in spectacular fashion.

#6 Matt Hughes was rumored to be facing Renzo Gracie in a senior circuit match early in 2010 but that fight is not happening for whatever reason. That's too bad as that fight is perfect for Hughes at this point in his career. After two losses to GSP and a KO loss to Alves, it is clear that his days as a top contender are over and he has no interest in being used as a stepping stone by younger fighters.

#7 Thiago had his own bit of luck -- we'll see what he makes of it -- when his scheduled UFC 107 bout with Thiago Alves was changed. Instead, he'll face undefeated UFC newcomer Jacob Volkmann at UFC 106. I'm just glad I didn't have to live blog the battle of the two Thiagos.

#8 Carlos Condit gets a chance to recapture the momentum he brought into the UFC from the WEC when he tackles #10 Paul Daley at UFC 108

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