Josh Thomson Out, Mitsuhiro Ishida In.

The highly anticipated rematch between Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez that was scheduled for August 15th is off once again.

MMA Fanhouse is reporting that Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson was once again forced to pull out of a scheduled rematch with the man he took the title from last June.

Thomson suffered a broken foot while preparing for the rematch which was originally scheduled for April 11th. Strikeforce replaced Thomson with Rodrigo Damm. Melendez defeated Damm via 2nd round knockout and was named interim lightweight champion.

With Thomson sidelined for the time being, Strikeforce has lined up a fabulous replacement in Mitsuhiro Ishida who already owns a victory over Melendez. In fact he gave Melendez the first defeat of his career on New Years eve 2007 in Japan. Ishida is 18-5-1 while fighting for Pride, Dream and Shooto. Melendez began angling for a rematch immediately after losing to Ishida.

Melendez is 15-2 in his career and is coming off a dominating performance over Damm at the first Strikeforce telecast on Showtime. He has been waiting to get back in the cage with Thomson as well, but will now be forced to seek revenge on Ishida first.

Strikeforce: Carano vs Cyborg will take place on August 15th from the HP Pavilion in San Jose. Headlined by the first ever women’s title bout in Strikeforce history which will feature Gina Carano taking on Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos as well as three other title bouts.

Recently added to the card is a light heavyweight showdown between champion Renato Sobral and challenger Gegard Mousasi, this was originally scheduled for Affliction: Trilogy. For the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title, NIck Diaz will take on Jay Hieron. Diaz was suppossed to face Joe Riggs who was forced to pull out due to being hospitalized. Hieron was scheduled to face Paul Daley this Saturday at Affliction.

The Strikeforce heavyweight championship was scheduled to be defended for the first time since 2007 but champion Alistair Overeem was forced to pull out due to a lingering hand injury. Challenger Fabricio Werdum is still slated to fight on the card although a replacement has yet to be named.