On January 4th, 2011, Strikeforce announced they would host an eight-man Heavyweight Grand Prix extravaganza. The tournament was greeted with immense anticipation, as it contained nearly every big name not competing in the UFC.
Fast forward 16 months and much of the wind has been taken out of the tourney’s sails after most of the favorites were eliminated for various reasons.
Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Silva, Sergei Kharitonov, Andrei Arlovski, Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem are all history – as is Strikeforce’s 265-pound division, for that matter.
Josh Barnett meets replacement Daniel Cormier in the HWGP finals May 19th inside HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
Showtime will broadcast the main card beginning at 10PM ET/PT.
Please click the media play below to watch a recap of the tournament:
Here is the event’s complete lineup:
Preliminary Card:
(Showtime Extreme 8PM ET/PT)
Quinn Mulhern vs. Yuri Villefort
Gian Villante vs. Derrick Mehmen
Virgil Zwicker vs. Guto Inocente
Isaac Vallie-Flagg vs. JZ Cavalcante
Main Card:
(Showtime 10PM ET/PT)
Chris Spang vs. Nah-Shon Burrell
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante vs. Mike Kyle
Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez (Strikeforce Lightweight Champion)
Heavyweight Grand Prix Finals:
Josh Barnett vs. Daniel Cormier
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