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After months of rumors and speculation, Strikeforce’s second network television event is finally official. As announced earlier today, Strikeforce returns to CBS on April 17 with three title fights — Hendo vs. Shields, Mousasi vs. King Mo and Melendez vs. Aoki.

Noticeably absent from the announcement though was the participation of Herschel Walker who has been heavily rumored for the card in recent weeks. It appears his name was left off for a reason. According to CBS’ Kelly Kahl, it doesn’t look like Herschel will be ready by April 17 for his second pro fight.

“I’d still love to get him on CBS at some point, but it sounds like this was a little too close to the last fight,” Kahl said. “The thing I love about Herschel is he’s not going to jump in until he’s ready, and he takes the training very seriously, so I’m going to give him all the time he needs.”

If not Herschel, then which competitors will fill the fourth slot on the televised card? Well, apparently since there’s three five-round title fights and broadcast time constraints (two-hour block), there might not be a fourth fight.

Speaking to Ranallo, CBS executive Kelly Kahl said the network is still considering a fourth fight, but no decision has yet been made.

“We still might put somebody interesting on the card just to round it out a little bit, but it’s not like we feel that we need anything but these three fights,” Kahl said.

The only problem with going with three fights is what do they do if those fights end early, and chances are at least one or two of them won’t go the full 25 minutes. Showing prelims like the UFC seems like the way to go, but Showtime has opted to end their broadcasts early in the past instead of airing prelims for whatever reason. If that same protocol holds true for CBS, they should seriously consider adding a fourth fight even if it’s between two up-and-comers. Three title fights are awesome, but if they only last a round or two, fans might feel like they were short-changed.

Image via Esther Lin for Showtime

Update: On the same episode of the The Fight Show (.mp3) as the above Kelly Kahl interview came from, Mauro Ranallo reported that the Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers fight expected for May 15 will be for Alistair’s Strikeforce heavyweight title.

I love that fight, but to be honest, I’m not sure what’s worse, Alistair returning after two years and not defending his title or defending it against Brett Rogers who’s coming off a loss against the guy who should be fighting Overeem for the title. A lose-lose situation as far as the title is concerned.

Update 2: Strikeforce matchmaker Rich Chou confirms Hershel Walker will not make the Nashville card. He says they may add a fourth swing bout.

When M-1 announced that Fedor was no longer on Strikeforce’s April 17 card it seemed highly probable that CBS would broadcast the May card he’s supposedly fighting on instead, and Showtime would take the reigns for the April card headlined by Dan Henderson and Jake Shields. Well, apparently not. Both MMA Junkie and Sherdog are reporting that CBS will in fact broadcast the April event and the May card will land on Showtime.

Jose Canseco has been criticized up and down for pursuing a fight with Herschel Walker. It’s nothing new to him though, he says he gets criticized if he “breathes wrong,” so don’t think the overwhelming negative reaction from the MMA community is going to convince Canseco to back off. The way he sees it, why shouldn’t he fight Herschel Walker?

“You’re wrong. I was doing it before Herschel. I think it would be a perfect match. We are individual athletes that were great at what we did. Why can’t we transcend it to another arena. It’s more of a celebrity, entertainment type deal. It’s a lot of fun. Why not do it?”

“Why not do it if you’re capalbe of doing it? I was a professional athlete, the best baseball player in the world at one point. The need to stay young, the need to stay active, the need to compete [are all reasons]. I think you want to try every sport possible just to experience life.”

“We would not go in there unless we’re properly trained. With [Gracie's] training, with them behind you, with their support, you’re gonna see a real good fight.”

Canseco confirmed he met with Scott Coker a couple weeks ago, but it’s unclear if Strikeforce is actually giving him any serious consideration.

Dana White does not approve of all the attention Herschel Walker has gotten from mainstream media outlets like ESPN while his guys like GSP, BJ Penn, Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida can’t get any. He scoffs at the idea of Herschel Walker in the UFC and goes as far as saying it would result in the first death in the Octagon.

So it looks like Jose Canseco is hell-bent on making this fight with Herschel Walker happen. Unlike his preview MMA fight against Hong Man Choi, he actually intends to train for this one, and Cesar Gracie has offered to facilitate. Yesterday was his first day as evidenced by the above photo with the Diaz brothers. Nick just looks so amused, doesn’t he? No word yet on what Strikeforce is thinking at this point, but they’re apparently at least willing to sit down and hear Canseco out. I still don’t like it, but if Canseco is actually willing to dedicate himself to a real training camp I suppose it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Now if they want to book Canseco against Don Frye then I am all about it. The verbal beating Frye would dish out would be epic. The physical one probably wouldn’t be too far behind. Just throwing that out there if this is what you want to do, Strikeforce.

HT: BE

Update: Strikeforce says they are not meeting with Jose Canseco nor entertaining the idea of matching him up with Herschel Walker.

Update 2: Okay, so Strikeforce has met with Jose Canseco though it’s unclear what came out of it.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and Canseco gathered today in a San Jose, Calif.-area restaurant along with esteemed trainer Cesar Gracie to discuss the possibility of the former baseball star fighting for Strikeforce, according to Gracie, who spoke with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) Friday before the group met.

“Jose says baseball’s better than football, Gracie jiu-jitsu is better than AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) and he’s better than Herschel (Walker),” Gracie said. “Three strikes and you’re out.

“People will be amazed what kind of shape this guy is in. He throws a head kick like Cung Le.”

Of course he does.

I’ll say this, I don’t think Strikeforce booking Canseco vs. Walker would “hurt the sport” — at this point only something like a death in the cage on a major broadcast would — but I do think it would damage Strikeforce’s credibility. If I were Coker, I would steer clear. It’s just not worth it.

Dana White had a lot to say after yesterday’s UFC 109 pre-fight press conference. He talked about everything from the WEC and Strikeforce potentially going head-to-head on April 24 (which is “highly possible”) to ESPN giving the potential Herschel Walker vs. Jose Canseco so much coverage (apparently they have the same agent stirring the pot). He also said he likes Nick Diaz, but he needs to “learn how to play the game,” and he did not have an intervention with Chuck Liddell despite what Tito Ortiz says.

On this week’s edition of Fox Fight Game, Mike Straka and crew preview UFC 109 and discuss Herschel Walker’s MMA debut from Strikeforce “Miami.”

The FSBC has released the fighter payouts for Strikeforce “Miami.” Keep in mind, these figures represent the base contracted pay the fighter receives from the promotion. These figures do not include any additional undisclosed bonuses or sponsorship money, which in many cases exceeds a fighter’s base pay. These numbers also do not account for taxes, insurance, and license fees.

Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani caught up with the winners and losers of last night’s Strikeforce ‘Miami’ event. Also, Showtime and Strikeforce have post-fight interviews to check out on their YouTube channels.