Strikeforce invested of lot of money and effort into pushing female MMA as close to the forefront as possible. It leaned heavily Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, but now that she's tested positive for an anabolic steroid, even Scott Coker questions how legitimate her entire run has been.

"The thing that's really sad about the 'Cyborg' thing is, it makes you reallyu wonder the validation of all those other fights," Coker said after this weekend's event in Las Vegas.

Cyborg claimed last week that a supplement caused the positive test. Coker won't give her a pass.

"At the end of the day, the athlete has to be accountable for their actions. She's no different," Coker said. "[...] If you're going to cheat you shouldn't be competing against other professional athletes that aren't cheating."

Check out images from Strikeforce's first event of the year by Tracy Lee, with three knockouts at the end of the card, Tarec Saffiedine's exciting decision over up-and-comer Tyler Stinson, and all of the undercard action.

Clay Guida, then and now (Twitter, Zuffa)UFC lightweight Clay Guida is known for his relentless pace in the cage, love of "The Big Lebowski" and of course, that hair. But in the picture he just shared on Twitter, Guida showed that he hasn't always had that mop atop his head. This is from his prom in 1999, which also explains the super-cool vest and bowtie.

Luke Rockhold celebrates after win (Esther Lin/Forza)Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine started with two decisions before getting all kinds of knockout power from the top of the card. Here are Cagewriter's Three Stars; tell us yours in the comments or on Facebook.

No. 1 star -- Luke Rockhold: The Strikeforce middleweight champion was not exactly enthused with his match-up with Jardine, so he took out his anger on Jardine's face. Rockhold swarmed the UFC veteran, laying down punch after punch until (finally) Herb Dean stepped in and stopped the fight.

But his frustration came right back after the fight, as he talked about how he wants to take on the great fighters who are in the UFC while he is in Strikeforce. It's just as frustrating for fans, who want to see how Rockhold stacks up against the best middleweights in the world.

No. 2 star -- Robbie Lawler: We all knew that Robbie Lawler had power in his hands, but did anyone expect a flying knee? Adlan Amagov clearly didn't, as Lawler used the knee to stun him before using several more punches to stop the fight in under two minutes.

No. 3 star -- "King Mo" Lawal: Though Lawal used his elite wrestling to control Larkin, it was his powerful punches that put Larkin out. He had to throw a ton of punches before Kim Winslow (finally) stepped in and stopped the fight. The next thing in Lawal's sights is Strikeforce's vacant light heavyweight belt.

"King Mo" walks away from a badly damaged Larkin (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Landing 15 unanswered shots, Muhammed Lawal nearly beat Lorenz Larkin into oblivion to pick up his ninth career win. "King Mo" was far from jubilant. In fact, he was angry following the victory. Lawal lashed out at the referee Kim Winslow for not protecting his opponent.

In the ring, Lawal screamed out a suggestion that Winslow shouldn't be reffing fights. In the postfight press conference, he brought it even stronger.

"The commission, they need to like to do something with her ... let her take a fight or something and give her a bad ref. Let her fight [Cristiane] "Cyborg" Santos and let's do a late stoppage with her," said Lawal."The tables need to be turned. Put me in there as a ref and I'll do a terrible job like her."

Winslow's decision to allow a limp Larkin to absorb 6-8 extra punches was shaky, but her explanation to Lawal was even worse.

"She said 'well, I wanted to give him every opportunity to bounce back. If it takes for him to be asleep, that's what it is,'" said Lawal. "She's never taken a punch before, so it's easy for her to say that."

Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (Sherdog.com)With its champion on the shelf for at least the next 12 months, Strikeforce's 145-pound female division appears to be on life support.

Last night, Scott Coker wanted the media and everyone else to pump the brakes.

On Friday, Dana White threw gasoline on the fire by saying the division might be finished (0:39 mark) with Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos' positive steroid test. Twenty-four hours later, Coker said no determination has been made about the reeling division.

"I don't think it's time to throw [the division] out to the garbage. I still think we have some great fighters at 145 and a lot of girls that maybe haven't been around for a while ... I believe they're going to be motivated to come back because Cyborg won't be there," Coker told the media at the Strikeforce postfight press conference.

The first name that jumps to mind is former 145-pound star Gina Carano, but she's been inactive for over two years and is on the verge of exploding in the entertainment world. Her first major movie, "Haywire" debuts on Jan. 20. Coker sent mixed messages on his former female meal ticket.

"I think Gina Carano is definitely somebody who'd like to fight again, but she's got a big movie guys. I'm not sure if you seen the commercials, it's everywhere," Coker said. "And Steven Soderbergh is gonna be behind her. When that happens, great things are going to happen for her. She might get another picture deal."

Coker doesn't believe Cyborg's suspension and Carano's possible permanent exit from the fighting landscape should bring an end to the division.

Rockhold celebrates (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

LAS VEGAS - The Strikeforce postfight presser was unlike any we've seen in recent memory. The wins either came too easy or Scott Coker needs to bring in some new challenges.

Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, Luke Rockhold and Tyron Woodley all sounded bored and uninterested about their future with the promotion. That's bizarre, since one of them has successfully defended his title just one time and the other two are without titles.

Lawal hammered on Gegard Mousasi, his possible challenger for the vacant 205-pound title. He was also asked about a crossover fight with UFC and PRIDE legend Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. King Mo responded by calling him a bum, washed up and a B-level actor.

At least King Mo got his dander up a bit. Rockhold couldn't get past the fact that he fought a guy in Jardine, who'd never fought for the promotion before, or down at middleweight.

"He was pretty tough. He was stronger than I thought he'd be in the clinch. I thought I could dominate a little more in the clinch," shrugged Rockhold. "It was somewhat of a test. A lot of guys couldn't finish him and I told you guys I was going to do what nobody else had done."

Rockhold also gave a half-hearted endorsement of Tim Kennedy being a worthy opponent suggesting he wasn't a very good stand-up fighter.

- Coker seemed to the suggest that the Strikeforce to UFC crossovers will no longer happen.

"The crossovers happened when there was a gray area over whether the Showtime contract was going to be renewed," Coker said. "Now that that's out of the way we're committed to building this league. We're going to continue to do that. That means bringing great fighters here. I think that's what you're going to see all year."

- Woodley vehemently defended his winning fight approach. A media member asked the welterweight contender why he was "reluctant" to stand with Jordan Mein. 

Rockhold drops Jardine for a second time (Tracy Lee)

During the lead up to his first title defense, Luke Rockhold oozed confidence all week. He had good reason. He was facing what turned out to be an overmatched fighter in Keith Jardine.

Rockhold took care of business easily, waiting out the wild style of Jardine to land a huge right and followed it up with 17 more unanswered shots to force the referee to stop the fight at 4:26 of the first round.

The champ was happy to win, but had little interest in calling out Strikeforce's No. 1 contender Tim Kennedy. Minutes after the victory, Showtime's Mauro Ranallo asked about Rockhold defending his title against the Strikeforce roster.

"I like fighting and I like getting paid," Rockhold said then hesitated. "Right now, all the best guys in the world at middleweight are in the UFC. Those are the guys I want. I want to fight the best in the world. I think they should bring over some top contenders. I believe I am one of top guys and I want to take on the best."

That's probably not what Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker wants to hear. Strikeforce, with the backing of its new owner Zuffa, recently re-signed with Showtime. The last thing it wants is to be viewed as a minor league with all of its champions looking to jump to the UFC.