Two long-awaited fights, Gina Carano (picture) vs. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos and Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thomson, will happen at Strikeforce on August 15.

Strikeforce announced the fights during Saturday's "Lawler vs. Shields" broadcast on Showtime.

Fans have been asking for Carano (7-0) to meet Santos (7-1) since the two began to make their mark in women's MMA through the EliteXC promotion. Santos has won her last seven fights. Santos last victory was over Hitomi Akano in April, in a fight where she came in seven pounds overweight. Carano's fight was a unanimous decision over Kelly Kobald at EliteXC: Heat last October on CBS.

Josh Thomson (16-2) won the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship over Gilbert Melendez (14-2) but has yet to defend it due to injuries. They were scheduled to meet in April, but Thomson suffered a broken leg. Melendez won the interim title at the event and he'll receive his chance to unify the titles in August.

Former trainer/manager for UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is striking back at former champion Tito Ortiz (picture) for calling him a "thief". Juanito Ibarra claims that Ortiz' comments have caused emotional distress through defamation and invasion of privacy according to TMZ.

Here's an excerpt of what Ortiz had said about Ibarra this past September:

"Let me explain this to you because it really pisses me off that Ibarra has done what he has done, he is a thief. I have been running training camps for seven years up in Big Bear California and the most that my camp has cost a fighter to attend is $35,000. Ibarra was charging Jackson $65,000 to go to Big Bear. I don't understand that!! He was being very disrespectful and taking advantage of 'Rampage'. Including travel, training partners, food and lodging, the most ever was $35,000, maybe if you flew in more trainers...$40K. Where did that extra money go that Ibarra was charging?"

Not only is Ibarra going after Ortiz, he's also suing the media who reported the story which helped spread Ortiz' comments throughout the Internet.

There's no doubt that after what Ortiz had said, followed by Jackson leaving Ibarra that he's probably struggling to get clients into his camp. We don't know how much Ibarra is suing for and which MMA websites he has targeted.

Meanwhile, Tito Ortiz is free to receive an offer from any promotion without having to reveal the offer to the UFC beginning this weekend.

Ortiz's contract with the UFC ended last year when he lost against Lyoto Machia at UFC 84 on May 24. Although Ortiz was allowed to negotiate with other promotions, the UFC retained the right to match any offer until June 5, 2009.

A press conference was held yesterday in Tokyo by World Victory Road to announce the signing of 2008 Olympic gold medalist in Judo Satoshi Ishii for the promotion. Previously signing with the UFC is reported to have no impact on Ishii's negotiations with WVR to appear in their Sengoku events.

The 22-year-old judoka had been sought out by the other major mixed martial arts promotion in Japan, DREAM as well as the UFC.

Ishii accepted an invitation from the UFC last December to meet UFC President Dana White and experience UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 live at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. White said Ishii has the potential to become a great MMA fighter.

Ishii appeared at first willing to put aside his celebrity in Japan to compete in the UFC. But by signing with World Victory Road, Ishii picks the safest and richest choice to begin his MMA career.

It was previously reported on several sources that Ishii was set to appear on the tenth season of the popular Spike television series, The Ultimate Fighter. Ishii's Facebook page appeared to confirm that rumor yet now, this signing may not allow the Japanese fighter to do both. It is important to note that he has a clause in his new 2-year contract allowing him to fight for other promotions outside of Japan and Ishii has previously indicated a desire to fight in the UFC late last year.

"I have finally made up my mind," Ishii told Nikkan Sports in December. "The UFC is where I want to fight."

Time will tell where he really makes his MMA debut. WVR Director Takahiro Kokuho believes Ishii's first fight for the promotion can come as early as August 2 and as late as the New Year's Eve event at the end of the year.

In any case, for WVR and Japanese MMA in general, this signing might mark a significant turning point in their campaign to get back on network television. With WVR and DREAM alike staging strong events, fans may see a resurgence of MMA in the once PRIDE-dominated country.

Since leaving Judo with his eyes set on MMA, Ishii has been traveling around putting in mat time with current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida, the American Top Team and Xtreme Couture.

Fresh off of his first round submission victory over heavyweight Mark Hunt at DREAM 9 event, former DREAM Middleweight Champion Gegard Mousasi confirmed that his next fight will be against former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort at Affliction 3 on August 1.

Prior to his win over Hunt, Mousasi (25-2-1) last competed on K-1 and DREAM's co-promoted K-1 DYNAMITE!! 2008 back on New Year's Eve. He TKO'd Musashi in the first round of their kickboxing bout.

Mousasi's last mixed martial arts tussle came in September when he put Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza to sleep in the first round of the Middleweight Grand Prix Finals. With the victory, Mousasi became the first ever middleweight champion of the organization.

Since exiting the UFC over four years ago, Belfort (18-8) had struggled to find his hold form. He dropped three of his next five, however has rebouded nicely to take his last four.

Belfort tells Brazilian MMA magazine TATAME that he would face Mousasi only at middleweight. Belfort has been very successful as a middleweight, winning both of his Affliction fights with devastating knockouts over Terry Martin and Matt Lindland.

Mousasi, who will be making his US debut at the event, extended his win streak to ten with his submission win at DREAM 9 against Hunt in the opening round of the Super Hulk Tournament. Outweighed by 68.4 pounds, Mousasi took Hunt to the mat and snatched an arm for the kimura. Mousasi will face either Ikuhisa Minowa, Hong Man Choi or Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou after the Belfort fight.

As expected, at the UFC 98 post-event press conference, UFC President Dana White announced that UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida's first title defense will be against former champion, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (picture). While White didn't announce the date for the title defense, if recent rumors of Rampage and Machida coaching season ten of The Ultimate Fighter are true, then the fight would take place in late December.

Both Machida and Jackson were fighting for the World Fighting Alliance when Zuffa bought the company out in December 2006.

"We bought the WFA to acquire his contract and Rampage's," White noted at the press conference. "I've always thought this kid (Machida) was talented."

"I was blown away by his performance tonight," White continued. "Absolutely blown away."