After reports last week that Fedor Emelianenko's Strikeforce debut would be in October, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated during last Saturday night's Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg post-event press conference that his debut is "probably going to be in November".

Coker shot down a rumor that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez was being considered for the fight, saying that "it was never even talked about". He stated that his opponent would likely be Brett Rogers or Fabricio Werdum, and later stated that Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem was also a possibility, if he is recovered from his hand injury.

"I definitely think there's two guys here that would be a quality opponent for Fedor," Coker said of Rogers and Werdum, who were at the press conference.

"I think Brett Rogers is one of the guys we have to take a serious look at," he continued. "And Fabricio (Werdum) looked great tonight. I think on any given day he could do his thing."

Rogers, who is coming off of a 22 second first-round knockout victory over former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski in June, told that he didn't think that he would end up getting the fight. Werdum, who needed just 1:24 to defeat Mike Kyle by submission last Saturday night, noted that he was up for the fight if it were presented to him.

"It's up to Mr. Scott (Coker)," Werdum stated. "Whoever Scott tells me to fight, I'm going to fight."

He went on to joke that he isn't quite ready for the fight yet, stating, "The athletic commission says for seven days I can't fight. After that, no problem."

Meanwhile, mixed martial arts fans won't have to wait long to see "The Last Emperor" in action. Emelianenko will face newly crowned Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Gegard Mousasi in an exhibition sparring match at M-1 Global: Breakthrough on August 28.

Many say it was his high profile losses to both Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rodgers that drove Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski to play the high risk game of Russian Roulette, a game during which a revolver is loaded with a single round, the cylinder spun, and then placed against the temple. The player pulls the trigger, chancing the bullet could end their life.

"It's when you don't care about anything," stated the 30-year-old Belarusian mixed martial artist to Fighters.com.

But Arlovski's spokesman, Keith Gelman, stressed to a reporter from the website that the former UFC Heavyweight Champion "has never contemplated taking his own life".

All this after two devastating losses -- one to Brett Rodgers at a Strikeforce event in June, the other to Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko at an Affliction: Day of Reckoning event in January. After his second loss, Arlovski returned to his home in Belarus to spend time with family and reconsider his future ambitions.

"I cried a lot after my fights, you know. When I lost to Fedor, I cried. When I lost to Rogers, I cried," he stated.

And now, the top ranked fighter says he wants to box, and plans to train with boxing coach Freddie Roach. Arlovski says he plans to debut his boxing career in September or October of this year. As for his future in mixed martial arts...

"I don't want to make any predictions," he said.

Strikeforce and DREAM will announce a partnership that could see an exchange of fighters between the two promotions.

Strikeforce Chief Executive Officer Scott Coker revealed Monday night in a radio appearance on The Carmichael Dave Show that the number two mixed martial arts promotion in the USA will enter into an "alliance" with Fighting Entertainment Group, the parent company of the number one mixed martial arts promotion in Japan.

The partnership could open up new possibilities for the recently-signed Fedor Emelianenko, who had seemingly only Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers and Fabricio Werdum as opponents in Strikeforce. Fedor could also find himself fighting in Japan after his fall Strikeforce on Showtime date. The former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion is well-loved in the country and from 2003-2007 took pride in a tradition to compete every New Year's Eve in Japan's annual blockbuster year-end show.

"We've talked about (the partnership) for a long time," Coker said on the Northern California sports program. "It's finally going to happen now so maybe (Sergei) Kharitonov could fight Fedor at some point."

Besides more options for Fedor, there's an entire pool of new opponents for each promotion that could also give a clearer understanding to world rankings outside of the UFC.

The current champions and direct title contenders under DREAM are Joachim Hansen (lightweight champion), Shinya Aoki, Marius Zaromskis (welterweight champion), Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, Bibiano Fernandes, Joe Warren, Hiroyuki Takaya and Hideo Tokoro.

Meanwhile, the champions with Strikeforce are Alistair Overeem (heavyweight), Renato "Babalu" Sobral (light heavyweight), Cung Le (middleweight), Josh Thomson (lightweight), Gilbert Melendez (interim lightweight) and the August 15 winner of Nick Diaz versus Jay Hieron.

The two promotions already share the services of former DREAM Middleweight Champion and current number one Strikeforce light heavyweight title contender Gegard Mousasi, who also happens to be under contract with Fedor's management, M-1 Global.

Coker added that more details on Fedor's future, including the date and opponent, could be announced as early as Thursday.

Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz will be streamed live on Saturday night from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, for a price tag of $24.95.

The online option is for those without subscriptions to Showtime, but an incentive to order the online stream is the options to choose camera angles and audio commentary.

Below is the fight card for the event:

Showtime bouts:

• Frank Shamrock vs. Nick Diaz

• Josh Thomson vs. Rodrigo Damm

• Scott Smith vs. Benji Radach

• Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos vs. Hitomi Akano

• Brett Rogers vs. Ron "Abongo" Humphrey

Preliminary bouts:

• Luke Rockhold vs. Buck Meredith

• Eric Lawson vs. Waylon Kennell

• Raul Castillo vs. Brandon Michaels

• James Terry vs. Zak Bucia

• Jeremy Tavares vs. Shingo Kohara

Many sources reported that Brett "The Grim" Rogers has been contacted by Affliction regarding a possible bout with Josh "The Babyface Assassin" Barnett (picture) on January 24 "Day of Reckoning" card at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Rogers is most known for his three impressive wins in the -- now bankrupt promotion -- EliteXC as well as calling out Kimbo Slice at a post-fight press conference.

Many believed that Rogers was next in line to fight Kimbo Slice if Slice had beaten Seth Petruzelli. Instead Rogers finds himself looking for another promotion to work with.

Barnett currently has no opponents for "Day of Reckoning" after being pulled out of the main event when Fedor Emelianenko returned to the card.