Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament MMA takes another step forward as the fastest growing sport in the world. On Saturday, Strikeforce has a huge card and the start of a year long Heavyweight Tournament that features the "baddest man on the planet" Fedor Emelianenko and current K-1, Dream and Strikeforce Champion Alistair Overeem.
The main card is free on Showtime and the prelims are on HDNET. Check your listings.
[B]Andrei Arlovski +110[/B] vs Sergei Kharitonov
This should be a very interesting battle between two Russian heavyweights who do not like each other. Arlovski has lost his L3 fights, but all three were against stellar competition and all three are in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament. They were Antonio Silva, Brett Rogers and Fedor.
Kharitonov was a force in the heavyweight division in 2007. But since then he has lost every other fight and just fights anyone for a payday. Last December he had two fights. A win in on the Dynamite card, he defeated an over-weight Japanese fighter Tats Mizuno and prior to that lost a K-1 fight to Singh Heart Jaideep a fighter from India, who hadn't beaten anyone with a winning fight record. And for some reason, this fight is not in Kharitonov's fight record, but yet it is very easily visible and all over You Tube and MMAjunkie.com
I see Arlovski getting Kharitonov to the ground and dominating this fight.
[B]Josh Laberge +200[/B] vs. Anthony Leone
Leone 8-2 and lost his L2 fights, and also could not make weight at the weigh-in. He was only off by .65 of a pound but still this is not a good sign for his biggest challenge. Laberge 7-4 started out slow 2-4 but he has won his L5 fights and stopped three of them in the first round. He has a four inch height advantage and five inch reach advantage. We'll take the big plus price on the sharper fighter.
