Filed under: Strikeforce
His unbeaten streak finally over after nearly a decade, Fedor Emelianenko throws himself back into the fire as part of Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Grand Prix. For an athlete who openly admitted considering retirement in the last year or two, it will be a tall order to find the fire to run the gauntlet and emerge as the winner over a crowded field of various former and current organizational champions.
His first tourney start will come on Saturday against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, a former EliteXC heavyweight champion who has lost only once in the last four years, to field entrant Fabricio Werdum. Ironically, Werdum is the man to snap Emelianenko’s historic streak.
Standing with the other seven members of the tournament field, Emelianenko is clearly the smallest and at 34 years old, he is also the oldest. All of which would make a Grand Prix tournament victory the biggest achievement of his career.