I think we can safely say as we approach the opening bouts in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix that the palpable buzz that is surrounding the company right now is louder than it has ever been. Maybe their heavyweight division is stronger than the UFC’s, maybe it isn’t, but they were brave enough and smart enough to recognize the excitement that a tournament format can bring and got all of their biggest names, even those with diva like tendencies, on board. And while the likelihood that the whole thing will fizzle out is higher than it probably ought tp be even that would eventually work in Strikeforce’s favor.
Just imagine the worst case scenario; Fedor smashes his oh so brittle hands on the oversized coconut that is Antonio Silva’s head, Alistair Overeem pulls out to focus on his kickboxing career only to be replaced by his very much lesser than brother, and Josh Barnett goes all the way to the finals all the while unable to secure American licensing thus forcing the bulk of the tournament to take place in Japan. Tell me you would turn your nose up and not watch that?
Without question the main attraction here is Fedor Emelianenko. Sure some are still sore over the fact that he has spent his career dodging the UFC and thus costing people the opportunity to see some real money fights over the years but anybody who thinks that that prevents him for being one of the all time greats is just being ridiculous. The man was 32-1 coming into his last fight. Think he spent all his time beating up on scrubs? Try these names on for size: Mirko Cro Cop, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Tim Sylvia, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Babalu Sobral. His one loss? Due to the opening of a cut that had been caused in his previous fight earlier that night. Hardly a real loss, at least in my book. The biggest question is who has more to lose here, Strikeforce or Fedor? With Strikeforce it all comes down to cash, the further their money maker makes it the more they are likely to accumulate. But with Fedor his legacy as the greatest MMA heavyweight of all time is on the line, a loss to Bigfoot in the opening round and he may just wish that he had retired on top when he had the chance.
One of the more surprising developments that has come out of this Grand Prix is Fedor, in his own, smirky little way, doing his part to sell the potential matchup between him and Overeem. If you get the opportunity check out the interview he gave to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour which saw him, through a translator of course, casually question how Overeem has managed put on so much weight in such a short period of time and then, when pressed on the issue, slyly back away and act like Helwani was putting words in his mouth. Needless to say Overeem took exception to this calling Fedor “mysterious” and then going so far as to say that he isn’t respected by Fedor and his camp as a fighter. It’s hard to imagine Strikeforce cooking up a better way to promote this hypothetical fight.
The other big fight on Saturday finds two aging legends out there trying to take one last stab at greatness as Andrei Arlovski, the not so proud owner of a three fight losing streak, takes on Sergei Kharitonov who will be fighting for only the 2nd time in the United States. Personally I would have rather seen Shane Del Rosario in there playing the role of the up and comer trying to spoil the party for all of the legends instead of one these two damaged names but alas this is what we are stuck with. Kharitonov just fought and won on New Year’s Eve so Arlovski certainly has the advantage in the rest department but he has looked so crummy lately that I could honestly envision a scenario in which he never again won a professional MMA fight.
Strikeforce has also filled the card with three contests to determine the tournament alternates, one that’s intriguing and two that are not. The Shane Del Rosario vs. Lavar Johnson is another interesting bit of booking as they found in necessary to place their highly touted prospect against their feel good story of last year. As long as, in the case of an injury (or failed drug test for that matter), the winner of this fight gets that open slot I am OK with it. The other scheduled fights for the Showtime broadcast are of a far lower profile with Valentijn Overeem facing Ray Sefo and Bobby Lashley nemesis Chad Griggs fighting Gianpiero Villante.
