We're less than a week away from another big fight event and this time it is not being brought to us by the UFC. Strikeforce, now the main competition to the UFC's plan of MMA global domination since the departure of Affliction, is finally following up their June event with a couple of marquee fights.
The main attraction is a heavyweight bout between Russian superstar Fedor Emelianenko (30-1, 1 NC) who will be making his Strikeforce debut against the undefeated Brett Rogers (10-0) which has title implications. In the other main attraction, welterweight champion Jake Shields will defend his title against Jason "Mayhem" Miller.
Emelianenko, 33, will not only be making his Strikeforce debut but also his debut fighting within a cage. Often regarded by many analysts and fans around the sport as not only the top heavyweight in the game but even the sport's top pound-for-pound fighter.
In Rogers he will be facing an up-and-coming heavyweight with heavy hands but essentially zero ground game. Rogers is coming off a knockout win over former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski who just so happens to also be Emelianenko's latest victim. However, "the Grim" is still widely considered to be relatively untested with just Arlovski being an opponent of any consequence to his ledger.
The reason why Emelianenko is so highly regarded is his outstanding all around game. Not only can the Russian strike with the best of them due to his incredible hand speed, he is extremely adept on the ground. There really isn't any weakness in his game other than his physical size. At 6'0" and a little over 230, he's relatively tiny for a heavyweight especially compared to the UFC's heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar who is 6'3" and usually 285-290 by the time of the fight.
So whether this fight -- on paper -- can be seen as your classic mismatch, it is still being paid close attention to by the mainstream MMA media because it is Emelianenko's latest fight and first since beating Arlovski way back in January.
As far as the Shields/Miller bout, well let's just say there's a reason that "Mayhem" Miller isn't on the UFC roster despite being around along time and having friends in the rival promotion. In another instance of fight hype making a fight out of a classic mismatch, Miller is perhaps the worst title contender to be challenging for the Welterweight crown.
The event will take place on Saturday, November 7th at the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago at 7 pm PST.
The Fight Camp video from Showtime:
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