The legend continues to become unraveled. Roughly eight months after his surprise loss to Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko again saw his opponent’s hand raised in the Strikeforce cage.
Fighting in the main event of Saturday’s Strikeforce card, Fedor Emelianenko was using his position in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix as a launching pad for a return to the top. But Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, his quarterfinals opponent, had other plans. Using his clear size and strength advantage, Silva pounded away on Fedor and secured a doctor’s stoppage victory.
The stoppage came after a second round clinic from Silva, who dominated the legendary Fedor on the ground. Silva, who at various points in the round advanced to mount, delivered vicious ground-and-pound, locked on a tight arm triangle and attempted a kneebar submission, was simply too much for Fedor to handle. Fedor’s face showed the impact of Silva’s dominance–his eye was closed shut–and the call was made to stop the fight.
Following the victory, Silva moves to a semifinals matchup against the winner of the upcoming Fabricio Werdum vs. Alistair Overeem fight.
Fedor, meanwhile, teased this was “maybe” the last time he will fight.
— In another quarterfinal bout, Sergei Kharitonov became the latest heavyweight to take advantage of Andrei Arlovski’s suspect chin. The back-and-forth first round ended with Kharitonov teeing-off on his opponent’s face before securing a knockout victory on the ground.
Full results:
Jason McLean b. Kevin Roddy via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Josh LaBerge b. Anthony Leone via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) after Round One
Sam Oropeza b. Don Carlo-Clauss via submission (strikes) at 4:10 of Round One
Igor Gracie b. John Salgado via technical submission (arm triangle) at 3:04 of Round Two
John Cholish b. Marc Stevens via submission (kneebar) at 3:57 of Round Two
Valentijn Overeem b. Ray Sefo via submission (neck crank) at 1:37 of Round One
Chad Griggs b. Gianpiero Villante via TKO (strikes) at 2:49 of Round One
Shane Del Rosario b. Lavar Johnson via submission (armbar) at 4:31 of Round One
Sergei Kharitonov b. Andrei Arlovski via KO (punches) at 2:49 of Round One
Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva b. Fedor Emelianenko via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) after Round Two