FanHouse JoeyVillasenor

The Strikeforce injury bug continues to wreak havoc.

Almost a month before the organization's next Challengers event, Evangelista Santos (11-6-1) has been forced to pull out of his main event bout against Tim Kennedy (9-1) due to a knee injury sustained during training, according to The Fight Network, who cited a source close to Showtime.

Joey Villasenor beat Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos by split decision Friday night in the main event of the Strikeforce Challenger Series event in Kent, Washington, providing an exciting, fast-paced conclusion to a good MMA show.

A year ago, Joey Villasenor was feeling really good about his MMA career. He had just defeated Phil Baroni on the first-ever MMA event broadcast on network television and was primed to make a run at the EliteXC middleweight title. He was then three weeks away from receiving that shot and an opportunity to avenge an October 2006 loss to Robbie Lawler, until the organization suddenly ceased operations and cancelled the event in November.

Since then, Villasenor has been anxiously awaiting his chance to get back in the cage. "I just can't wait to be under the lights, man," he said. "That's what I have done over frickin' 30 times professionally. I just can't wait to feel that numbness in my stomach. I've kind of grown addicted to it."

On Friday night, Villasenor will feel that numbness again when he faces Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos in the main event of "Strikeforce: Challengers" on Showtime (watch their weigh-in scuffle from Thursday). FanHouse spoke to the native of Albquerque, N.M., about resuming his career and his place in Strikeforce's middleweight division. The full interview is below.

Saturday night's fight between Phil Baroni and Joe Riggs may not be the most interesting bout on the Strikeforce card, but it certainly stole all the headlines in the weeks leading up to it.

Seems like every day another trash-talking episode popped up between the two out-spoken fighters. Whether it was Baroni calling out Riggs for missing a pre-fight conference call or Riggs accusing Baroni of being a drug user, if nothing else, both men did a fantastic job of selling this 170-pound clash.

FanHouse spoke to "The New York Bad Ass" via e-mail about restarting his career as a welterweight and what he hopes to accomplish in the future. The full interview is below.