James Brydon

Dan Henderson and Jake Shields will look to put on a good show in the main event of Saturday's Strikeforce show on CBS.

Prior to UFC 112, it appeared we were in for quite a treat in the month of April.

Saturday’s show in Abu Dhabi was headlined by two championship fights. This coming Saturday, Strikeforce one-ups them with THREE championship contests. And on Saturday, April 24, the WEC weighs in with a PPV card anchored by another two title bouts. Things were looking pretty good.

Well, they didn’t exactly get started on a good note. UFC 112 may have had two champions defending their belts, but neither showed up.

B.J. Penn might have had an excuse: Penn's coach said he was sick and not 100 per cent. That could explain why he looked nothing like the man who picked apart Diego Sanchez with slick movement and relentless pursuit four months ago.

Even still, FightMetric.com scored the bout in Penn’s favour, 49-47 with the 10-point must system, and a fairly convincing 373-263 in overall effectiveness.

However, I thought Edgar won at least three rounds. Penn was by no means dominated, and if you subscribe to the notion “in order to be the champ, you need to BEAT the champ” then you can argue Edgar didn’t do that, at least not in the first two rounds. But for my money he definitely won the last three rounds and deserves to hold the belt today.

Having said that, I still feel weird calling Frankie Edgar the UFC lightweight champion. I know I'm not the only one, and perhaps the best thing to do would be to have an immediate rematch, about which Penn claims the UFC has already approached him.

But of great controversy was the main event and the performance of Anderson Silva, who must have thought it was still April Fools Day.

Dana White was embarrassed and upset and threatened to make Silva the first ever champion to fight on an undercard. I’m sure he was just blowing steam; at least I hope so, since doing that would only be more embarrassing for the organization.

Is Silva bored? His manager says no. Does he need another challenge, like a fight with GSP? White said he’s no longer interested in seeing that.

Meanwhile, there was a suggestion that Silva’s licence to fight with the Nevada State Athletic Commission could be in danger, for “failure to give his or her best efforts ... or give an honest exhibition of his or her skills in a contest or exhibition of unarmed combat.”

That would seem a bit extreme, and NSAC executive director Keith Kizer ruled out that possibility.

Then there was a new twist to the story. Apparently, Silva’s gloves were not properly taped ahead of the fight. While this theoretically means Silva could have tampered with them -- even inserted a foreign object -- I highly doubt that happened. This just looks like a smokescreen deflecting the spotlight off Silva’s troubling antics.

My favourite quote on the topic was a tweet by MMAjunkie.com writer Dann Stupp, responding to Silva’s post-fight press conference claim that Maia disrespected him:

“If Maia was disrespecting Silva, why not just go kick his ass -- instead of disrespecting Maia, the UFC, the sport, the fans and himself?”

All in all, the controversy and negative publicity makes things look good for Strikeforce, which returns to primetime network TV with its show in Nashville Saturday on CBS. With PPV buys not an obstacle, lots of viewers will likely tune in, and there’s a good chance the show will look golden compared to the UFC’s.

Especially with the card being so top heavy.

“Every one of these fights could be a main event,” Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said of the three title bouts. “So we’ll have a triple main event.”

The UFC is countering the Strikeforce show with a replay of UFC 110 on Spike TV. That’s no surprise, though I don’t know why an MMA fan would want to watch a replay of a show weeks ago vs. one as stacked as the Strikeforce one, considering both are free.

And I doubt Dan Henderson, fresh off his departure from the UFC, will play hard to get in his debut with the promotion. Wouldn't he just love to put on a great performance that could show up the UFC and Silva, who beat him previously.

Don't expect any dancing around from Jake Shields, who has a bit to prove considering a lot of the early promotion for this fight was for Henderson and not him, despite him being the one holding the belt. He is also auditioning for his next contract, since he could become a free agent after the fight, with the organization holding the option for one more.

That doesn't mean though he’s eager to make the dash to the UFC.

"I'm fighting in the main event on national TV against Dan Henderson," Shields said on a conference call last week. "This is the biggest platform possible, so it’s not like I’m in any hurry to jump and run away."

Then there is WAMMA and Dream lightweight champ Shinya Aoki, hoping to make an impression on North American fans, in his first fight outside Japan. His opponent Gilbert Melendez -- along with Gegard Mousasi and King Mo Lawal -- are well known to the casual MMA fan but hope to become household names.

I guarantee one thing: None of those six main card competitors will be running around the ring making a fool of himself.