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At the outset of the weigh-in Friday, it was announced that the next two quarterfinal fights in the STRIKEFORCE World Grand Prix — Heavyweight Tournament would take place on Saturday, April 9. Tomorrow/Saturday, Feb. 12, the STRIKEFORCE World Grand Prix begins live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast) from IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J. In the main event, Fedor Emelianenko (31-2, 1 NC) faces Antonio “Big Foot” Silva (15-2) in a STRIKEFORCE and M-1 GLOBAL co-promoted event. The opening quarterfinal on the telecast will match former world champion Andrei Arlovski (15-8) against Russian star Sergei Kharitonov (16-4), the last fighter to defeat STRIKEFORCE and DREAM Heavyweight World Champion Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem.
On April 9, the quarterfinal matchups in a three-stage, single-elimination tournament are: Overeem (34-11, 1 NC) versus the only man to tap out Fedor, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist Fabricio Werdum (14-4-1), and hard-hitting Brett “The Grim” Rogers (11-2) against Josh Barnett (29-5).
The fighters on the SHOWTIME telecast made weight on their first attempts Friday at IZOD Center.
001-002: Fedor (left) and Silva pose and face-off after weighing in.
003: Fedor flexes.
004: Silva flexes.
005: Arlovski (left) and Kharitonov square off.
006: Arlovski strikes a familiar pose.
007: Kharitonov on the scale.
008: In one of the three undercard fights on the all-heavyweight telecast on SHOWTIME, Shane Del Rosario (left) meets Lavar “Big’’ Johnson.
009: Chad “The Grave Digger’’ Griggs (left) takes on Gian (pronounced “John”) Villante, who jokingly mocked Griggs by sticking on fake sideburns before their face-off.
010: In the opening bout of the telecast, Valentijn Overeem takes on Ray “Sugarfoot’’ Sefo.
011: Several hundred fans turned out for a weigh-in that was open to the public.
012: The Rockstar Girls …
Tickets are on sale at IZOD Center box office, online at Ticketmaster.com and Strikeforce.com, and by phone at (800) 745-3000. The first of five non-televised undercard fights start at 7:30 p.m. ET.
