Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Gets Under Way Saturday Night

Strikeforce's ambitious Heavyweight Grand Prix is due to kick off in the very near future. All eyes will naturally be on the main event, which of course pits Fedor Emelianenko against Antonio "Big Foot" Silva in their Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinals bout.

The fight immediately preceding theirs is the quarterfinal bout between Sergei Kharitonov and Andrei Arlovski, the former UFC Heavyweight champ. And by comparison, not that much has been written about this fight.

What we do know is that Arlovski is a slight underdog against Kharitonov, and that a defeat (which would be his fourth straight) might force Arlovski to hang 'em up for good.

As far as Kharitonov is concerned, not many people are giving him much of a chance in grand scheme of the tournament, as surely he won't be able to defeat Fedor, Silva, Alistair Overeem, or Fabricio Werdum if it comes to it.

But why not? After all, Kharitonov has already defeated Overeem and Werdum in his career, and he is a more balanced fighter than he gets credit for. And because he is a relative underdog, he may be able to pull a few surprises.

By no means is this a suggestion that you should go out and bet the farm on him. It is merely a suggestion to keep your eyes on him as an intriguing dark horse candidate to come away with the whole thing. Given the relative dominance of the four big names, wouldn't that be a shocker?