Strikeforce News: Thomson Out of 4/11 Co-Headliner With Broken Leg; Lawler/Shields + Babalu/Feijao Added to June Card

("Josh, bro, you ever look at your hands? I mean really *look* at them? It's like, why do we have five fingers anyway? Who decided that? It would be cool if I had six, but I'd probably be able to get by with just four. Or like, why is there a thumb on only *one* side of your hand. I feel like I'd be able to get more done with two thumbs on each hand. Do you ever watch 'Fringe'? Great fuckin' show." Photo courtesy of MixedMartialArts.com.)

With less than two weeks to go before Strikeforce returns to action on Showtime, the second-biggest fight on the "Shamrock vs. Diaz" card (April 11th, San Jose) has been scratched from the lineup. Strikeforce announced last night that lightweight champion Josh Thomson broke his left leg above the ankle while sparring with Billy Evangelista yesterday, and will not be having his rematch with Gilbert Melendez next Saturday. Said Thomson:

Strikeforce is searching for a late replacement for Melendez so that the former champ can still compete on the card. Tough break (literally) for Thomson, but on the bright side, we didn't want to see him fight Melendez again anyway. Their first meeting last June saw Thomson  dominate Melendez with his striking for all 25 minutes of the match; El Nino was never really in the game. And Melendez hasn't fought anybody since then, so it's not like he's legitimately earned another crack at the champ. We'll keep you posted on the random-ass opponent they scare up for him. The full lineup for "Shamrock vs. Diaz" can be seen here.

In other news...

Strikeforce's June 6th event at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis was officially announced via press release this morning, with two major bouts confirmed for the card. Headlining "Lawler vs. Shields" will be, you guessed it, Robbie Lawler and Jake Shields, who will face off at a non-title catchweight of 182 pounds. The highly anticipated match between EliteXC's final middleweight and welterweight champs was previously slated to be on a May event in Washington state, but that no longer seems to be the plan.

Also on the card, Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Renato "Babalu" Sobral will defend his title against Team Nogueira product Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante, a 7-1 fighter who scored first-round TKO wins over John Doyle, Wayne Cole, and Travis Galbraith last year under the EliteXC banner. Cavalcante was previously the victim of the sixth-worst commentary moment in MMA history.