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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
According to multiple published reports, Strikeforce is expected to announce today the quarterfinal matchups for their planned heavyweight tournament.
Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva are already set for a February 12 event from the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In addition, Andrei Arlovski is now expected to meet Sergei Kharitonov on that card.
Two more quarterfinal bouts appear to be set, as Alistair Overeem is expected to meet Fabricio Werdum and Brett Rogers is expected to face Josh Barnett. Those two bouts do not have a set date or location, though they could come on Strikeforce's March 5 event in Columbus, Ohio.
Penick's Analysis: It's not clear whether the Overeem-Werdum bout will be for Overeem's title, but it would probably be the best route to have all of his fights in the tournament be for the belt, otherwise, if he suffers a loss in the tournament, he'll still be their Champion. But, I do like that this is the fight we're getting. Rogers-Barnett should be competitive, provided Barnett gets things cleared with the CSAC next month, but that could still throw a wrench in plans. We'll have to see how everything plays out, but it could be a highly entertaining tournament from Strikeforce this year if all goes off without too much of a hitch.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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