Thursday, January 6, 2011

Strikeforce has assembled eight of the world's top ranked heavyweights to compete in the Strikeforce World Grand Prix - Heavyweight Tournament

World championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotions Strikeforce and M-1 GLOBAL, in association with premium television network SHOWTIME have signed a new, multi-year agreement to co-promote events headlined by the MMA legend Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko (31-2, 1 NC).

In addition, Strikeforce has assembled eight of the world's top ranked heavyweights to compete in the Strikeforce World Grand Prix - Heavyweight Tournament, a three-stage, single-elimination tournament that will take place over several events in 2011.

The first two quarterfinal fights begin on Saturday, Feb. 12, live on SHOWTIME from the IZOD Center in E. Rutherford, N.J. In the main event, the 34-year-old Emelianenko will face the towering Antonio "Big Foot" Silva (15-2) in a Strikeforce and M-1 GLOBAL co-promoted event. Co-featured on Feb. 12, former world champion Andrei Arlovski (15-8) will face Sergei Kharitonov (16-4), the last man to defeat current Strikeforce Heavyweight World Champion Alistair "The Demolition Man" Overeem.


The other two quarterfinal matchups are as follows: Overeem (34-11, 1 NC) will face the only man to tap out Fedor, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist

Fabricio Werdum (14-4-1), while the heavy-handed Brett "The Grim" Rogers (11-2) will meet a hungry Josh Barnett (29-5). The location and date for these quarterfinal tournament fights are to be announced. Read All About It Here