FanHouse MeishaTate

It's been almost a year since we've seen Shayna Baszler compete in an MMA cage. Following her last fight, a highly-visible loss to Cristiane Santos on CBS in July 2008, the 28-year-old was forced to sit on the sidelines while Pro Elite figured out what they were going to do with their contracts. Once Strikeforce purchased most of the significant ones in February, it was only a matter of time before Baszler got back to work and resumed her promising career.

At Friday's "Strikeforce: Challengers" event in Kent, Wash. (Showtime, 11 PM ET/PT), Baszler (9-5) will face undefeated star Sarah Kaufman. Kaufman (9-0) made her successful 135-pound Strikeforce debut last month, defeating Meisha Tate via unanimous decision. FanHouse spoke to Baszler about her time off and preparing for Kaufman. The full interview is below.

Miesha Tate (5-1) went from training for a fight against a well-known, less experienced opponent in Kim Couture (1-1), to a lesser-known, more experienced opponent in Sarah Kaufman (8-0). It was a bitter pill to swallow for the up-and-coming female MMA star, but one that she ultimately realized could benefit her career even more in the long run.

A win over Couture would have been a nice addition to Tate's resume, but it also would have done little to prove that she is a top-level fighter. Defeating the undefeated Kaufman in the co-main event of tonight's inaugural Strikeforce Challengers event on Showtime, would go a long way in terms of establishing Tate as one of the best 135-pound female fighters in the world.

FanHouse spoke to Tate about gearing up for a new opponent on short notice and trying to be recognized for more than just her looks. The full interview is after the jump.

Kim Couture, the wife of UFC legend Randy Couture, has dropped out of her upcoming "Strikeforce Challengers" fight against Miesha Tate on May 15 due to "personal reasons." A Strikeforce source confirmed the news and the reason to FanHouse earlier this morning. No specific explanation was given for her decision.

MMAWeekly.com first reported the news citing a blog post on Tate's MySpace account. Tate insinuated that the reason Couture pulled out of the fight was due to marital problems with her husband, Randy.

On Saturday night, Strikeforce put on its first MMA show of 2009, and on Sunday night Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker talked to me about how he thinks the first show went and where he sees Strikeforce going in 2009.

Among the topics we discussed were the success of Nick Diaz, the future of Frank Shamrock, the weight of Cris Cyborg (and her likely future fight with Gina Carano), as well as the possibility that big names in MMA including Kimbo Slice, Tito Ortiz, Royce Gracie and Fedor Emelianenko could fight in the Strikeforce cage. The full interview is below.