Strikeforce returns to the HP Pavilion in San Jose, for the organization's first show since the acquisition of the now defunct EliteXC's assets.

As well as the bill-topping catchweight showdown between legendary MMA pioneer Frank Shamrock and Stockton bad-boy Nick Diaz, the show was supposed to feature Josh Thomson defending the Strikeforce lightweight belt against the man he won it from, Gilbert 'El Nino' Melendez.

But a broken ankle suffered by the champion in training means that Melendez will now face BJJ whiz Rodrigo Damm instead.

Further down the card, Scott 'Hands Of Steel' Smith takes on Benji Radach in a battle of big punchers, Chute Boxe's first lady Cristiane 'Cyborg' Santos faces Japanese submission specialist Hitomi Akano and the 8-0 former EliteXC heavyweight Brett Rogers takes on fellow undefeated prospect Ron Humphries.

WEC Bantamweight champion Miguel Angel Torres had a torrid time during his title defense against former Shooto star Takeya Mizugaki.

The Japanese fighter, making his WEC debut and coming in at late notice as a replacement for injured No1 contender Brian Bowles, gave Torres all he could handle over the five championship rounds.

Carlson Gracie BJJ blackbelt Torres was making his third defense of the belt he won last year from Chase Beebe and is considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

But Mizugaki came out smoking and took the first round from the champion with some energetic striking, especially to the body.

Torres came back strongly and, despite recieving a nasty cut above his right eye from a clash of heads, the champion worked a mixture of flurrying combinations and tight clinch work up against the cage to take some of the wind from Mizugaki's sails.

The pace had been gruelling, but both fighters had enough left in the tank to turn the last half-minute of the fifth and final round into an absolute war.

In a highly-entertaining fight, Torres had done enough to retain his title on a unanimous decision, with comfortable scores of 49-46 (twice) and 48-47, and Takeya Mizugaki (11-3-2) no doubt won himself some new fans with his gutsy, tireless performance.

Torres now boasts a record of 37-1, with 31 wins coming early and is unbeaten in over five years.

The main supporting bout was a tense struggle between Renzo Gracie-trained veteran Jeff Curran and unbeaten Uriah Faber protege Joseph Benavidez.

The judges scores of 30-27 (twice) and 29-28, all for Benavidez may have deceived people who didn't see the fight into thinking that the young prospect had things all his own way.

But as dynamic and exciting as the Sacramento native's offensive skills are, he had to watch the crafty Curran carefully for the full fifteen minutes.

Benavidez record improves to 10-0, with eight by a short route, while Curran slips to 29-11-1 and has lost his last three, though in Curran's defence those other losses were to former WEC featherweight champ Uriah Faber and the reigning title-holder Mike Brown.

Lightweight talent Ben 'Smooth' Henderson put paid to Shane Roller with a beautiful one-two at the 1:41 mark of round one; Rafael Assuncao took a unanimous decision from a disinterested Jameel Massouh; the referee saved IFL veteran Bart Palaszewski from the brutal ground-and-pound of Anthony Njokuani 27 seconds of the second round and former Shooto lightweight champ Akitoshi 'Ironman' Tamura unanimously out-pointed former WEC bantamweight title challenger Manny 'The Mangler' Tapia.

In the main event of DREAM 8 at the Nippon Gaishi Hall in Japan, former PRIDE superstar Hayato 'Mach' Sakurai stunned the capacity crowd and opponent Shinya Aoki when he knocked out the usually durable 'Tobikan Judan' just 27 seconds into the fight.

PRIDE, DEEP and Shooto veteran Sakurai powered out of a take down from the slippery Aoki and blasted him in the face with two powerful knee strikes, leaving the Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Finalist draped unconscious on the ropes and vulnerable to the multiple punches 'Mach' was able to land before the referee pulled him off.

Sakurai remains favourite to win the GP and the inaugural DREAM welterweight title.

In the other GP matches, WEC veteran John Alessio succumbed to a first-round armbar from still unbeaten Brazilian Andre Galvao, Jason High submitted Team M.A.D.'s Yuya Shirai via rear-naked choke in under a minute and London-based Lithuanian Marius Zaromskis took a unanimous decision from DEEP champion Seichi Ikemoto.

In the non-GP undercard Sergei Kharitonov was submitted via north-south choke in just 1:42 by former UFC heavyweight title challenger Jeff Monson,

Murilo 'Ninja' Rua won a unanimous decision against late replacement Riki Fukuda and in a left-over bout from the first round of the featherweight GP, Daiki Hata beat Hideo Tokoro by unanimous decision, but will probably not feature in the GP's second round due to an injury sustained in the fight.