by Dr. T
Saturday, February 12th, IZOD Center, East Rutherford, N.J.; Ticket Pre-Sale Begins Next Wednesday, Tickets On Sale To The Public Next Friday
Fans wishing to purchase tickets for the blockbuster Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) mega-event featuring the return of the legendary Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko and the kickoff of the STRIKEFORCE World Grand Prix – Heavyweight Tournament on Saturday, February 12th, at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J., won’t have to wait long.
A special ticket presale for “STRIKEFORCE Insiders,” begins Wednesday, January 12th, at 10 a.m. ET and ends Thursday at 10 p.m. Fans can sign up to become an “Insider” at STRIKEFORCE.com.
Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, January 14th, at 10 a.m. ET at the IZOD Center box office, online at Ticketmaster.com and Strikeforce.com, and by phone at (800) 745-3000.
A three-stage, single-elimination tournament comprised of eight of the world’s top heavyweights will begin with two tremendous quarterfinal matches on February 12th.
In the main event, Emelianenko (31-2, 1 NC) will take on Antonio “Big Foot” Silva (15-2) in a STRIKEFORCE and M-1 GLOBAL copromoted event. The cofeature will pit former World Champion Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (15-8) against Sergei Kharitonov (16-4), the last man to defeat STRIKEFORCE Heavyweight World Champion Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem.
The famed Fedor, 34, of Stary Oskol, Russia, will be making his first start since it was announced earlier this week that STRIKEFORCE and M-1 GLOBAL, in association with Showtime, had signed a new, multi-year agreement to copromote events headlined by the MMA legend.
In his last fight, the 6-foot Fedor suffered a shocking upset loss to Fabricio Werdum on June 26, 2010. Until then, Fedor had manufactured an unprecedented, record-setting run of 28 consecutive victories, earning him recognition as the world’s all-time greatest pound-for-pound fighter.
Silva is a 6-foot-4, 31-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who has won eight of his last nine fights. All but two of his victories have come by knockout. Only five of his fights have gone past the first round.
Arlovski, of Minski, Belarus, is one of the most popular and recognizable fighters in MMA history. A hard-hitting, extremely athletic 6-foott-4, 31-year-old, he has fought and defeated some of the best since turning professional in April 1999.
A winner in four of his last five fights, the 6-foot-4, 30-year-old Kharitonov is the last man to defeat Overeem. On September 17, 2007, he scored a thunderous first-round KO of Overeem with a single punch in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. Kharitonov is coming off a 1:25, first-round TKO (knee) destruction of Tatsuya Mizuno this past December 31st in Japan.
Source: TheCageDoctor.com
STRIKEFORCE, Fedor Emelianenko
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