The Strikeforce World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament will get back on track on Saturday, September 10 with the two semifinal bouts headlining a card that will take place at Cincinnati OH’s U.S. Bank Arena.
The main event features Josh Barnett, coming into the semifinals after earning a submission win over Brett Rogers in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. His opponent, Sergei Kharitonov earned his way to the second round, by knocking out Andrei Arlovski during the first round of their bout.
The co-main event of the card will feature Antonio Silva facing Daniel Cormier. Silva punched his ticket to the semifinals by delivering a brutal beating to Fedor Emelianenko in the tournament’s opening round. Silva pummeled Fedor’s, leaving his face a bloody and swollen mess after two rounds.
Between rounds two and three, the doctor called a stop to the fight. Cormier, an accomplished US Olympic wrestler, enters the tournament as an alternate for Alistair Overeem. Overeem was forced from the card due to injury. Overeem was subsequently released from the promotion.
Also appearing on the main card, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza puts his middleweight belt on the line against Luke Rockhold while Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal will face Roger Gracie. The main card will kick off with Pat Healy meeting Maximo Blanco.
Main Card:
Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov
Daniel Cormier vs. Antonio Silva
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Luke Rockhold
Roger Gracie vs. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal
Maximo Blanco vs. Pat Healy
Preliminary Card:
Mike Kyle vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante vs. Yoel Romero
Jordan Mein vs. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos
Alexis Davis vs. Amanda Nunes
Chris Mierzwiak vs. Dominique Steele
HDNet will broadcast the preliminary card at 8 p.m. ET, while Showtime will bring MMA fans the main card at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.
Make sure to check back to Bleacher Report MMA often as we bring you odds, analysis, prefight, infight and postfight coverage of Saturday’s fight card.
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