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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Strikeforce's Heavyweight World Grand Prix kicked off on Saturday night on Showtime from the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and the first fighter to advance to the semifinals of the tournament was the least known name in the field.
Sergei Kharitonov needed just 2:49 to knock out Andrei Arlovski in the first tournament quarterfinal, and he is the first man to punch his ticket to round number two.
The fight began with Kharitonov pressing Arlovski to the cage, where he kept him for much of the fight. Arlovski fought back with punches and kicks, landing some nice combinations and scoring with his strikes. But after missing an overhand right, Arlovski was tagged with a counter-uppercut.
After getting tagged, he backed up into the cage, and Kharitonov turned on the assault. He landed a number of hard strikes, hurting Arlovski with numerous punches, and then dropped him with a right hook as Arlovski tried to circle away. He was ready to stop there, but with the ref not stepping in, Kharitonov landed a few more strikes to the downed Arlovski, who went out cold.
Kharitonov now meets the winner of the April 9 bout between Brett Rogers and Josh Barnett.
Penick's Analysis: That was kind of sad to watch. Arlovski's chin has deteriorated to such a point that getting punched in the face puts him completely out of it until the knockout punch lands. That was vicious, and a nice statement from Kharitonov that he's a legitimate threat in this tournament field, but the story of this fight may be that Arlovski may be at the end of his fighting career.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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