This week, the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament kicked off in New Jersey, causing fluctuations in the heavyweight rankings.
In the main event, one of the sport’s great careers may have come to an end. After a very close first round, which took place mainly on the feet, Antonio ‘Big Foot’ Silva took down Fedor Emelianenko early in the second, and proceeded to lay a brutal beating on the former Pride FC champion. Though Fedor survived the round, Silva’s ground-and-pound left Fedor’s face bloody and his right eye swollen completely shut, which caused the officials to stop the fight between the rounds.
Silva moves up 6 spots to #5 HW, and will face the winner of the upcoming bout between Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem in the Grand Prix semi-finals. Fedor falls 4 spots to #8. He has been stopped in back-to-back bouts for the first time in his career, and admitted that it may be high time to retire in the post-fight interview. However, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker mentioned that Fedor’s decision is not final and he may still take place in an alternate bout if he chooses to continue fighting.
In the other tournament bout, Sergei Kharitonov made a strong bid to revive his floundering career, with a first round knockout of former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski. While Arlovski seemed to be the quicker of the two fighters, Sergei managed to back him into a corner and unload, at which point Andrei’s chin let him down once again. This is the fourth consecutive loss for Alrovski, three of which left him unconscious. He falls to #23 in the rankings; and it’s time to call it a career. Kharitonov rises to #14 and will face Josh Barnett or Brett Rogers in the semi-finals.
In the reserve bouts, Shane Del Rosario and Chad Griggs both entered the heavyweight Top 50 with first-round stoppages of their respective opponents Lavar Johnson and Gian Villante. They should face off in the next round of the tourney. Lavar Johnson falls to #101 with the loss and Villante, previously ranked at #140 LHW, re-enters the heavyweight division at #166.
Finally, Valentijn Overeem – the journeyman older brother of Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair – rose to #95 with a neck crank sumbission of kickboxer Ray Sefo in a meaningless fight that was also billed as a tournament reserve. If Fedor Emelianenko does decide to re-enter the tourney as an alternate, Valentijn would make for acceptable Fedor fodder.
Ranking Expansion
In this week’s update, we expanded our lightweight, welterweight, and middleweight rankings from 250 to 300 fighters. Check out who made the cut into the Top 300’s: