So says Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, who spent millions to acquire the former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion:
"I believe that there are going to be some upsets in this tournament. On one side you'll have Alistair Overeem and he will fight (Josh) Barnett. The other prediction is, if Fabricio Werdum beats Alistair (Overeem), I believe Fabricio can beat Fedor (Emelianenko) again and he'll probably fight (Josh) Barnett. That's my prediction, but in these things you never know, I'm just throwing out some names. The reality is we're going to have a lot of fun watching it unfold."
Sounds like "The Last Emperor" will get his last shot at heavyweight gold when he drops the iron curtain on Antonio Silva in the quarterfinals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix on Feb. 12 in New Jersey. Promotion CEO Scott Coker, who plunked down a few trillion rubles to sign the Soviet Sambo specialist, thinks Fabricio Werdum will make it 2-0 against Emelianenko if they meet in the semifinals later this year. How about it Maniacs, does this prediction surprise you? And what (if anything) does it say about the Strikeforce/M-1 relationship? Or perhaps Coker is just playing coy while betting the house on his prized stallion?
Click here to listen to Coker make his predictions with The Fight Nerd.