Strikeforce Tuesday officially confirmed reports of an upcoming “World Grand Prix” tournament that will feature eight high-level heavyweights.
The single-elimination tournament, scheduled to run over several Strikeforce events in 2011, kicks off with two quarterfinal bouts on a live Showtime broadcast in February.
Scheduled for February 12 at East Rutherford, NJ’s Izod Center, the first card will feature Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Andrei Arlovski vs. Sergei Kharitonov.
Earlier rumors said Arlovski would square off against Josh Barnett in the opening round, but Barnett’s ongoing licensing issues presumably stood in the way of such an earlier return to the cage.
The other quarterfinal bouts, set for a to-be-determined card, are Barnett vs. Brett Rogers and Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum.
Update:
The bracketing for the tournament is particularly notable. As of press time, it is structured as follows
Emelianenko/Silva winner vs. Overeem/Werdum winner
Arlovski/Kharitonov winner vs. Rogers/Barnett winner
That means that Fedor Emelianenko vs. Alistair Overeem or Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum, should Fedor defeat Silva, would happen as semifinal matches rather than finals bouts. That decision is surprising given the fact that the two bouts would far and away represent the most anticipated, marquee matchups in the tournament.
From a tournament logic perspective, it also seems unusual that the top three fighters (Emelianenko, Overeem and Werdum) all ended up on the same side.
If they both get through their quarter final matches Emelianenko vs. Overeem could be epic.