Press Release – Fans wishing to purchase tickets for the blockbuster Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) mega-event featuring the return of legendary Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko and the kickoff of the STRIKEFORCE World Grand Prix – Heavyweight Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 12, at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J., won’t have to wait long.
A special ticket pre-sale for “STRIKEFORCE Insiders,” begins Wednesday, Jan. 12, 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, Jan. 14, 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 Feb. 12.
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 co-promoted event. The co-feature 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 co-promote 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 night 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 the history of MMA. A hard-hitting, extremely athletic 6-feet-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 Sept. 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 Dec. 31 in Japan.
About STRIKEFORCE
STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE, sanctioned by ISKA, has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts (MMA) series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose. In March 2009, STRIKEFORCE signed a multi-year agreement with SHOWTIME® to stage live events on the premium cable television network. The promotion has since also produced two live, primetime events on the CBS Television Network.
About M-1 Global
Founded in 1998, M-1 Global (www.M-1Global.com) has established itself in the realm of mixed martial arts (MMA) as the premiere entity for discovering and developing the world’s next-generation of superstar fighters. With offices in St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles and affiliates in Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Tokyo and Paris, the M-1 brand has staged over 70 events worldwide including the M-1 Selection and M-1 Challenge events and its co-produced STRIKEFORCE events in the United States. Captivating the live, television and broadband audiences with its superior production values and match-ups, M-1 events boast some of the sport’s top names including Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlovski, Aleksander Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Alistair Overeem, Ben Rothwell, Melvin Manhoef, Roman Zentsov, Stephan Struve and rising stars Shamil Zavurov, Byron Byrd, Alexander Sarnavskiy and Vinny Magalhaes. 2011 marks a breakthrough year with two Selections tournaments across Eastern & Western Europe, North America and Asia and a full calendar of Challenge events fuelled by a talent-rich contention system ranking M-1 Global’s Champions amongst the greatest in the sport. M-1 Global’s greatest asset is the number one heavyweight fighter in mixed martial arts history, Fedor Emelianenko. With daily coverage on all MMA-related websites in the world, and articles in Time Magazine, LA Times and New York Times, Fedor and M-1 Global make a lifetime match serving as the catalyst to grow MMA in the 21st century.
About Showtime Networks Inc.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD™, SHOWTIME 2 HD™, THE MOVIE CHANNEL HD™, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND™ and FLIX ON DEMAND®. SNI also manages Smithsonian Channel™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.