Strikeforce – Miami takes place this Saturday, January 30th in…well you don’t need me to tell you where it’s at now do you?  Two belts will be on the line this weekend, as Nick Diaz takes on DREAM’s Marius Zaromskis for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight belt and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos defends her Strikeforce Women’s Middleweight belt against Marloes Coenen.  Strikeforce – Miami will also mark the Strikeforce debut for pro wrestling star Bobby Lashley and NFL standout Herschel Walker.  Should be an interesting night of fights (and entertainment).

As per the future format of MMAMoneyLine’s predictions, I will only cover the fights that have betting value.  This card in particular has a few live dogs to discuss.  Without further adeiu, here are my betting recommendations and fight analysis for Strikeforce – Miami.

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A few members of the online MMA world have brought the Chris Bennett fundraiser to my attention. MMAMafia (not that Mafia) has created a page to give you the backstory on this fundraiser.  Bennett is looking to compete in the Pan Am Jiu-Jitsu Championships in California and needs some financial help.  MMAMafia has gotten some pretty cool prizes together that they will be auctioning off, including autographed Shane Carwin and Efrain Escudero shirts.

I suggest everyone check out the Chris Bennett fundraiser site and try to help the young man get an opportunity to display his skills.  Most people who visit my site are MMA bettors, and simply donating the win money from one bet could give Chris the opportunity to make it to the next level.

I’m a little late on getting this out to the general public, but if you frequent MMAMoneyLine’s “Pros’ Picks” section you’ve probably noticed the fact that I’ve started keeping score. This is because MMAMoneyLine is having a friendly contest that includes several respected members of the online MMA world.

As it stands, MMAMoneyLine will post “Pros’ Picks” for every UFC, WEC and Strikeforce card of 2010. At the end of 2010 I will tally up each participant’s record, calculate their win percentages and choose a winner. The winner will get a grand prize including a (not going to say the amount in public) dollar gift certificate to MMAWarehouse amongst other perks.

The 8 participants in the inaugural “Pros’ Picks” contest are Pat from MMABettingBlog, Zak from WatchKalibRun, Steve from MMAConvert, Zeus (or sometimes Shane Carwin or another Twitter follower of his) from MiddleEasy, Jordan from MMAAdNet, Josh from MMAValor, Mike from MMAMafia and myself…Eric from MMAMoneyLine.

The “Pros’ Picks” section of MMAMoneyLine is a great tool for MMA bettors to see where knowledgeable MMA fans, bloggers and journalists stand.  I respect the opinion and analysis of every one of these people participating in this competition.  It should also be interesting to see who has the “best eye” in the MMA blogosphere.  Being able to consistently pick winners can make a man some serious money!

I strongly suggest making MMAMoneyLine’s “Pros’ Picks” a must read before any MMA event, especially if you are an avid sports bettor.  Hopefully you enjoy the contest and it helps with your research.  Here is the leaderboard (by popular demand) for 2010 thus far:

UFC Fight Night 20 – Maynard VS. Diaz takes place this Monday, January 11 in Fairfax, Virginia.  The main event features a Lightweight tilt when top contender Gray Maynard takes on the always dangerous Nate Diaz.  Also in action is the TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah and TUF 8 king Efrain Escudero.

Unlike this weekend’s WEC event, UFC Fight Night 20 has much fewer solid betting opportunities.  However, there are still some fight lines that warrant a real hard look.  As per the future format of MMAMoneyLine’s predictions, I will only cover the fights that have betting value.  You don’t need me to tell you that a -500 favorite is going to beat a can.  I will post my official picks and wagers at the bottom of the post.  Here is MMAMoneyLine’s official analysis and betting recommendations for UFC Fight Night 20.

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WEC 46 – Varner VS. Henderson takes place this Sunday, January 10th in Sacramento, CA.  The main event features a WEC Lightweight title unification bout between champion Jamie Varner and interim champ Ben Henderson.  Former WEC Featherweight champions Urijah Faber and Mike Brown are also looking to make their way back up the ladder for a future fight with Jose Aldo.

WEC 46 has some very lucrative wagering opportunities…perhaps more than any recent fight card.  As per the future format of MMAMoneyLine’s predictions, I will only cover the fights that have betting value.  You don’t need me to tell you that a -500 favorite is going to beat a can.  I will post my official picks and wagers at the bottom of the post.  Here is MMAMoneyLine’s official analysis and betting recommendations for WEC 46.

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UFC 108 – Evans VS. Silva takes place Saturday, January 2nd in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The UFC’s first card of the new decade has certainly been hit with some devastating blows, with several main events, main card fights and undercard fights getting canceled or changed.  I believe this fight still has several intriguing matchups that will cater to all walks of MMA fan…so don’t write it off yet!

For my UFC 108 predictions, I am only going to cover the fights that I believe have betting value. Because of the generally well placed lines and unpredictability of UFC 108, only three fights have betting value in my opinion.  Here are those fights and official analysis from MMAMoneyLine. If you want to know where I stand on the rest of the fights, see MMAMoneyLine’s “Pros’ Picks” for UFC 108.

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