Tag: Andrei Arlovski

Strikeforce Grand Prix: By the Odds

Filed under: StrikeforceWhile small-scale gambling on the NCAA basketball tournament is something of an American tradition, I’ve found it’s much harder to get my friends and neighbors involved in a Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix betting pool.

That…

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While small-scale gambling on the NCAA basketball tournament is something of an American tradition, I’ve found it’s much harder to get my friends and neighbors involved in a Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix betting pool.

That’s because a) all my friends and neighbors know that I follow this stuff for a living, while they’re still wondering why Kimbo Slice didn’t get included in the bracket, and b) the lack of seeding means you kind of have to actually know something about each fighter in order to effectively pick a winner.

Thankfully, online oddsmakers have handicapped Saturday night’s opening round for us, so we might as well sift through the betting lines and see if there aren’t any egregious errors. Won’t you join me below?

Strikeforce Fedor vs. Silva Preview and Predictions

Filed under: StrikeforceStrikeforce’s much-discussed heavyweight tournament begins on Saturday night, with two of the four quarterfinal bouts taking place on a five-fight card that features nothing but heavyweights.

What: Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva …

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Fedor EmelianenkoStrikeforce’s much-discussed heavyweight tournament begins on Saturday night, with two of the four quarterfinal bouts taking place on a five-fight card that features nothing but heavyweights.

What: Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva

When: Saturday, the Showtime card starts at 10 PM ET

Where: Izod Center, East Rutherford, New Jersey

Predictions on the five televised fights below.

Strikeforce Heavyweights Descend Upon New York to Lay Claim to No. 1

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsNEW YORK — For some fans, it’s easy to look past Strikeforce. They don’t run as many events as the UFC, they don’t have a bombastic frontman, and they haven’t been around as long. But it was hard to ignore what they were …

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Fabricio WerdumNEW YORK — For some fans, it’s easy to look past Strikeforce. They don’t run as many events as the UFC, they don’t have a bombastic frontman, and they haven’t been around as long. But it was hard to ignore what they were doing on Tuesday afternoon, when eight burly men demanded and received the attention of a city that usually can’t be bothered.

The field of the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament came to town, with a free fan experience at Manhattan’s famed Roseland Ballroom that drew around 2,000 fans. The message was simple: With the brutal tournament format generating a battle of attrition, the promotion and its fighters believe that the man who emerges as the last man standing out of the original eight will be able to make the claim as the world’s best heavyweight.

While the championship is not in play, in some ways, the stakes are higher than any single piece of hardware.

“I love tournaments,” said Alistair Overeem, the man who holds the belt for now. “Tournaments decide who’s No. 1. This tournament will decide who the No. 1 heavyweight in MMA is, no doubt.”

Sergei Kharitonov Continues to Do His Best Ivan Drago Impersonation

(“He is not human. He is like piece of short, balding iron.” PicProps: Tapology)
As we all discovered when a recent Gambling Addiction Enabler questioned our collective manhood about betting on the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix, former…


(“He is not human. He is like piece of short, balding iron.” PicProps: Tapology)

As we all discovered when a recent Gambling Addiction Enabler questioned our collective manhood about betting on the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix, former Pride/Dream/K-1 slugger Sergei Kharitonov is currently paying off at fairly epic +2000 odds to win the whole shebang. Now, if we didn’t believe this tourney was headed for chaotic disaster and/or we thought there was a chance in hell those shady internet bookies would make good on a sizable bet, we’d actually consider Kharitonov something of a steal at those odds. Especially since he’s coming out of the weak-sauce side of the bracket and – as he reminds us in a new interview with Tapology.com this week – he’s already beaten two of the so-called favorites.

“People like to think they are experts on things they think they know,” Kharitonov says. “I beat Alistair (Overeem) and (Fabricio) Werdum and (accomplished) that at a time when my stand-up skills were not 25 percent (of) what (they are) now. You do the math.”

In fact, the Russian-paratrooper-turned-Golden-Glory-kickboxer says a bunch of totally badass stuff to Tapology. Stuff that only becomes more badass when you imagine him saying it in monotone, heavily-accented English like a certain 1980s movie villain we could mention. Case-in-point, Kharitonov’s message for first-round opponent Andrei Arlovski: “I will break you.” That’s right, he said it.

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Video: Tim Sylvia Takes Us Along For a Night Shift With the Milan Police Department

(Video courtesy YouTube/HDNetFights)
If you didn’t believe us when we told you that Tim Sylvia is a part-time cop in Illinois, maybe the ride-along video above will convince you. 
Notice that the department made Big Tim shave off his goatee and th…

(Video courtesy YouTube/HDNetFights)

If you didn’t believe us when we told you that Tim Sylvia is a part-time cop in Illinois, maybe the ride-along video above will convince you. 

Notice that the department made Big Tim shave off his goatee and those trademark mutton chops — not because they have a dress code, just because they thought he looked ridiculous. Rumor has it they eventually made him stop wearing his Powerhouse World Promotions heavyweight strap while on duty, too.

The former UFC heavyweight champ’s worries that nobody would recognize him were soon squashed.

"I”ve been recognized a few times pulling guys over," he explains. "Some guys when I pull up and ask for their license, registration, insurance, they’re like, ‘Are you Tim Sylvia?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ ‘That’s cool, man. I just got pulled over by Tim Sylvia,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, be safe, slow down and have a good day.’"

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2011: Year of the Heavyweight

Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceIf 2011 goes as planned, we’ll see more good, competitive, high-level mixed martial arts fights than we’ve ever seen in any year of the sport’s existence.

Strikeforce’s eight-man heavyweight tournament was getting all the …

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If 2011 goes as planned, we’ll see more good, competitive, high-level mixed martial arts fights than we’ve ever seen in any year of the sport’s existence.

Strikeforce’s eight-man heavyweight tournament was getting all the headlines last week, but the UFC did a nice job of bouncing back with the news that Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos will coach the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, that Shane Carwin expects to return in June, and that Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve vs. Travis Browne are slated for May.

Assuming a best-case scenario for both promotions, we’ll have good heavyweight fights from Strikeforce, the UFC or both every month for the next 10 months or so, culminating with the return of Cain Velasquez and the Strikeforce tournament final toward the end of the year. Remember, I started this with an “If”: Looking ahead to fights that we hope to see in the future is always risky business. But below we’ll look at the fights that will make this the year of the heavyweight.