FanHouse Nick Thompson

Dan Hornbuckle is a fighter from Mahomet, Illinois, who's currently known to only the most hard-core of MMA fans. But after finishing yet another fight in spectacular fashion in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, he's a star on the rise in the sport.

World Victory Road held a news conference Tuesday to announce three additional bouts for its Sengoku 10 card on Sept. 23 in Tokyo, Japan.

Dan Hornbuckle (18-2), who at the last Sengoku spoiled Akihiro Gono's return to Japan by way of a devastating head kick knockout, will take on Nick "The Goat" Thompson (38-11-1) in a welterweight bout. Thompson is returning to Sengoku off a loss as a middleweight to Tim Kennedy at Strikeforce Challenger Series in June.

Nick Thompson (38-11-1) will face Karl Amoussou (10-3-1) in a middleweight bout at "M-1 Global presents Breakthrough" on August 28 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California. Thompson confirmed the news with FanHouse on Tuesday.

"The Goat" expressed some frustration over the fact that he will have to fight at 185 pounds instead of his natural fighting weight of 170 pounds.

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.

Nick Thompson has the 50th professional mixed martial arts fight of his career on Friday night when he takes on Tim Kennedy at the Strikeforce Challengers Series event, but even after years of fighting all over the world, Thompson doesn't view MMA as his life's work.

As a special forces soldier in the U.S. Army, Staff Sgt. Tim Kennedy has survived IED blasts, 30-hour gunfights and missions behind enemy lines so classified that he'll never be able to discuss them. He also survived time away from his wife, two daughters and his professional sports aspirations.

And like every good soldier, Kennedy did it without hesitation.

"It's surreal to be with those guys the first time out," he said of his time spent with elite combat squads. "Gunfire goes off, and everyone runs towards it. I guess that's a character trait that sounds flawed, but it's reassuring to find there are others like you."

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While not yet officially announced, Affliction's third MMA event is quickly taking shape.

FanHouse has learned that a welterweight bout between Jay Hieron and Paul Daley has been signed for the organization's upcoming show on August 1. FanHouse reported earlier this week that Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett have verbally agreed to headline the event.

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.

Jake Shields defeated Nick Thompson with a first-round guillotine choke to win the EliteXC welterweight title this evening in Stockton, California.

It took Shields just a minute to finish Thompson, and it was the fifth straight first-round victory for Shields. Although UFC's stacked division has most of the best welterweights in mixed martial arts, Shields has shown that he's clearly the best welterweight not currently under contract to Zuffa.

The year's biggest welterweight fight will be in two weeks at UFC 87, when challenger Georges St. Pierre takes on top contender Jon Fitch.

"I'd love to fight the winner of St. Pierre-Fitch to unify the world titles," Shields said after the fight.

That won't happen, but some day I'd love to see Shields fight those guys. He's the real deal.