Here are our free picks for Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum.

Josh Thomson -500 vs. Pat Healy +300
Pat “Bam Bam” Healy has been around the block, fighting in the UFC, WEC, IFL, Strikeforce and probably your backyard. He’s definitely game, but Thomson is at another level. Thomson lost his belt to Gilbert Melendez, but before then hadn’t lost a fight since he lost to Clay Guida — when Guida fought for Strikeforce.
Take Thomson
Cung Le -300 vs. Scott Smith +225
It doesn’t make much sense to me that Cung Le, who doesn’t even fight full-time, is -300 against a fighter that beat him the last time they fought. Smith has the heart of a lion and perhaps the best chin in all of MMA. Le may win the fight but the smart bet is on Smith.
Take Smith
Cris Cyborg -1800 vs. Jan Finney +750
Jan Finney is a 6-6 fighter with losses to some of the best female MMA fighters currently doing battle. She has dropped matches to Julie Kedzie, Miesha Tate, Erin Toughill and Shayna Baszler. To think that she might beat Cyborg is preposterous, hence the -1800 for Cyborg. Easy money here.
Take Cyborg
Fedor Emelianenko -550 vs. Fabricio Werdum +325
Sorry, I’m not ready to buy into the hype that Fedor isn’t hungry enough or that he is getting too old. When the ref says “Fight!” at the start of round 1, Fedor will be ready and willing to do battle with Werdum. And it will end like the rest of Fedor’s fights: with his hand being raised at the end.
Take Fedor

Strikeforce on CBS: Shields vs. Henderson Weigh-Ins from Nashville, TN.

The organization had weigh-ins today at 5 p.m. (ET) and 4 p.m. (CT) outdoors at the Bridgestone Arena Plaza. In addition, the event will air live on CBS Saturday night live and features a championship triple-header.

Main Card: Live on CBS

Champ: Jake Shields (185.75). vs. Dan Henderson (185)
Champ: Gilbert Melendez (154.5) vs. Shinya Aoki (154.5)
Champ: Gegard Mousasi (204.5) vs. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal (204.25)

Preliminary Bouts: Non-Televised

Jason “Mayhem” Miller (185) vs. Tim Stout (186) – Will air on CBS, either live or as a highlight
Ovince St. Preux (205.75) vs. Chris Hawk (205.5)
Justin Pennington (124.25) vs. Dustin Ortiz (125)
Hunter Worsham (180.5) vs. Zach Underwood (179.5)
Thomas Campbell (145.75) vs. Cody Floyd (145.25)
Andrew Uhrich (171.5) vs. Dustin West (169.5)
Josh Schockman (205.25) vs. Cale Yarbrough (203.75)

Strikeforce will present ‘Strikeforce Nashville’ this Saturday night and on paper it looks to be an excellent card.  The main event will feature recent UFC defection Dan Henderson challenging for the middleweight championship against Jake Shields along with the US debut of Japanese superstar Shinya Aoki, who’ll take on Gilbert Melendez with the lightweight title on the line.  It’ll be televised live on CBS here in the United States.

In the aftermath of Anderson Silva’s UFC 112 debacle a lot of his fanboys and sycophants are trying to prop him up by arguing that his fight with Demian Maia should have never taken place.  While that doesn’t justify the unprofessional display that Silva put on, to some extent they’ve got a point.  The UFC has done a horrible job in the past year putting on competitive fights, particularly in championship matches.  Dana White has blamed a rash of injuries and that sure doesn’t help, but for every high quality matchup like Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua there’s been countless clunkers.  Matchmaking isn’t easy in MMA–fights that often look good on paper don’t always deliver.  That said, fights like Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman, Dan Hardy vs. Georges St. Pierre or the horrible UFC snoozefest between Matt Hughes and Renzo Gracie are simply bad matchups.

The big MMA event of the weekend will be Strikeforce Miami, taking place at the BankAtlantic Center on Saturday night.  Not a lot of great betting value on the card, with mostly prohibitive favorites matched up against underdogs that its difficult to make a case for.  Still, we’ll run down the odds and give my thoughts on each fight.  The event will be televised on Showtime in the United States.  You can also follow the action live online:

Strikeforce Miami live play by play coverage

Strikeforce Miami will get underway on Saturday night at 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific.  Lines below are from BoDog.

STRIKEFORCE MIAMI:

NICK DIAZ VS. MARIUS ZAROMSKIS

Nick Diaz -210
Marius Zaromskis +170