In a gritty and tactical battle all the way to the end, Villasenor proved victorious winning on two of the three judges scorecards, 29-28, 28-29, 29-28. "I haven't fought in over a year and that's a great fight to come back to," Villasenor said after the fight. "A three-round war. I was really surprised by (Cyborg's) countering. It turned into a great fight."

SHOWTIME will replay Friday's telecast on Thursday, June 24, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME 2. It will be available ON DEMAND beginning Monday, June 22.

Asked by SHOWTIME expert analyst, "The Fight Professor" Stephen Quadros, who he was looking to fight next in the stacked Strikeforce middleweight division, Albuquerque, N.M., resident Villasenor (27-6) said, "(Current middleweight champion) Cung Le is sitting back and watching everyone getting better but I think he's shaking in his boots after watching this."

Like Villasenor, Tim Kennedy has also been away from the game while serving his country as a Special Forces Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was hard to tell he hadn't fought in more than 18 months and only five times in the last six years, but he proudly proclaimed he was back Friday, as he submitted Nick "The Goat" Thompson by strikes at 2:37 of Round 2.

Fighting in his 50th MMA fight, Minneapolis, Minn., resident Thompson (38-11-1) was visibly upset afterward and thought Kennedy had hit him illegally behind the head. "You've seen my fights. I'm the fairest fighter there is," Kennedy said. "I was hitting from the side of his head and if I hit him in the back of the head I'm truly sorry. I love to bang and knock people out and I get a lot of crap back home for not winning by submission."

In what was easily the most entertaining and exciting fight of the night, at a catch weight special attraction at 160 pounds, Jorge Gurgel (13-5) of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Conor "Hurricane" Heun (8-3) of Hollywood, Calif., proved to be two stars to watch. From the second the first bell rang both fighters engaged in a battle full of blood and sweat. In the end, with the crowd on their feet, the final decision was announced in favor of Gurgel on all three scorecards with scores of 29-28, 30-27, 30-27.