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It looks like Fedor Emelianenko isn’t the only marquee fighter Strikeforce has to worry about retaining. Both Gegard Mousasi and Jake Shields each have one fight left on their current contracts which they’ll fulfill on April 17 in Nashville. If Mousasi beats King Mo he’ll remained tied to the organization due to the “champion’s clause” in his contract, however it doesn’t sound like it will matter much since Mousasi expects to sign a longterm deal with Strikeforce regardless.

Strikeforce held an open workout and press conference yesterday at Legends gym in Hollywood, California for their upcoming Strikeforce “Nashville” event. Here’s highlights, video interviews and pictures courtesy of Strikeforce, Showtime, Sherdog and FIGHT! Magazine.

James Irvin and Alessio Sakara meet in a middleweight match-up this Sunday, March 21, at UFC on Versus 1.

With all the pesky rumors about Rich Franklin replacing Tito Ortiz on TUF 11 and UFC 115, Rich makes absolutely zero mention of it in an interview with the Boston Herald. In fact, he confirmed he’s been in talks to fight Randy Couture just as Dana White said.

“It’s not signed yet, but we’ve been working Randy now for a while. We’ve talked June, then we talked August and now we’re talking June again,” Franklin said. “I think we’re having problems with Randy’s scheduling. So I really don’t know what the plan is at this point.”

Franklin also said he’s finally ready to make one more title run before he hangs up the gloves for good in 2-3 years.

“I’m at a point now where I’ve fought enough fights and it’s time for me to make a title run again and see where that takes me. That’s where my focus is Now,’‘ said Franklin, who has five fights left on his contract. “It depends on the speed of things. I would imagine I’ll probably end up negotiating one more contract before I retire. I’m looking at another two or three years of fighting.”

It looks like that run will start with Randy Couture, not Chuck Liddell, but I’m sure another report will surface before the week’s out saying otherwise.

Gegard Mousasi will enter the DREAM Light Heavyweight Grand Prix with some familiar company. Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, the two fighters Mousasi beat in Strikeforce, are both set to compete in the tournament alongside him.

Gegard Mousasi, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Renato Sobral will all be participating in the Dream Light Heavyweight Grand Prix, which will begin on May 30 at Dream.15.

Mousasi confirmed his own participation in an interview with MMAFighting.com on Wednesday, and Dream officials confirmed that Sokoudjou and Babalu will be part of the tournament as well.

Considering Mousasi put both Babalu and Sokoudjou away rather handily in Strikeforce already, I think it’s safe to say he will remain the favorite in the grand prix.

In other DREAM.15 news, Marius Zaromskis is expected to return to action on the card. It’s unknown if his welterweight title will be on the line or who he will fight.

Image via Esther Lin for Showtime

Middle Easy caught this footage of Gegard Mousasi and King Mo having a few words at an open workout in Hollywood for the upcoming Strikeforce “Nashville” show.