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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Despite a dominant beating at the hands of Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva on Saturday night that has him leaning very strongly towards retirement, Fedor Emelianenko may not be done in Strikeforce's Heavyweight World Grand Prix.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said after the fights that Emelianenko could potentially return as an alternate in the tournament should an injury occur.
"There's absolutely a possibility he could be a replacement," Coker said in comments made to MMAJunkie.com. "That's the beauty of the tournament. You don't know what could happen in the next leg of the tournament. As this tournament unwinds over the year, there could be an injury, and you could see Fedor back in the tournament."
This comes even though Strikeforce ran three tournament alternate bouts on Saturday night on Showtime, as Coker said Emelianenko could be the first to get that spot.
But there's another issue that could make that difficult should Fedor decide not to retire, as he was suspended indefinitely by the New Jersey State Athletic Commission due to the injuries suffered in his fight with "Bigfoot." At the very least, he is out 90 days without contact, which means he would not be able to return to action for this Grand Prix for likely five months at the earliest.
He would not be needed should the rest of the field go off without a hitch, but if a replacement is needed, Emelianenko may not even be an option at that point.
Penick's Analysis: With the way he lost last night, bringing Fedor back into this tournament field would go against what they're trying to accomplish with the Grand Prix. If they're trying to determine the "best of the best" in their heavyweight division, having a fighter who has lost two straight take a spot in the semifinals due to someone else being injured would be a travesty to the spirit of the field. They're certainly not offering to make Andrei Arlovski an alternate. Whether he's ready for it or not, Shane Del Rosario should get first dibs at an alternate spot for winning his alternate fight. After that, then Fedor can be in consideration, as Chad Griggs and Valentijn Overeem are not at the level of the rest in the field. However, if it leads to the potential spectacle that could be Overeem vs. Overeem, which both are open to should it come in the finals, then Overeem would be an acceptable replacement. But right now, Fedor's era is done, and what happened on Saturday could still happen again if he returns to action.
[Fedor Emelianenko art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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