The STRIKEFORCE® Heavyweight Grand Prix semi-finals take place on Saturday, September 10, at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. In tournament action, Josh Barnett faces Sergei Kharitonov, and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva faces undefeated Daniel Cormier. Plus Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Luke Rockhold, and Mo Lawal vs. Roger Gracie. Tickets still available!
Barnett is coming off of a second round submission victory over Brett Rogers in the quarter finals of the tournament. While his opponent Kharitonov is coming off of an obliterating beat down of Andrei Arlovski.
Silva is probably the most surprising fighter to be in the semi finals, as he is riding that upset TKO victory of so-called GOAT Fedor Emelianenko. Now after stating that Silva is the surprise, his opponent is by far the biggest surprise as he wasn’t even a part of the tournament to begin with. Cormier was a reserve fighter and just happened to be called upon when Alistair Overeem refused to fight in September.
The full fight card for Strikeforce: World Heavyweight Grand Prix – Barnett vs. Kharitonov is as follows…
MAIN CARD (Showtime)
Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov (heavyweight grand prix semifinal)
Daniel Cormier vs. Antonio Silva (heavyweight grand prix semifinal)
Champ Ronaldo Souza vs. Luke Rockhold (for middleweight title)
Roger Gracie vs. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal
Maximo Blanco vs. TBA
PRELIMINARY CARD (HDNet)
Mike Kyle vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante vs. Yoel Romero
Jordan Mein vs. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos
Alexis Davis vs. Amanda Nunes
