Lottery To Decide Middleweight Tourney Brackets

November 16, 2007

 HP Pavilion

San Jose, California

 

San Jose, CA…. A lottery ball drawing, which will take place immediately following the fighter weigh-ins at

the HP Pavilion’s The Grill restaurant on Thursday, the eve of Strikeforce’s mixed martial arts mega-card,

will determine the tournament brackets for Friday’s historic, four-man middleweight (185 lb. limit) tournament.

 

Tournament competitors Trevor Prangley (16-4), Falaniko “Niko” Vitale (24-7), Yuki Sasaki (21-13-1),

and Jorge Santiago (14-7) will each draw one of four balls, numbered “1” through “4,” and, then, one by

one, choose which location in the single-elimination tournament draw they wish to occupy.  The first choice

will be given to the fighter who draws the ball numbered 1, the second choice to the fighter who draws ball

number 2, and so forth. 

 

Each tournament bout will consist of two, five-minute rounds.  The victor of the first-ever sanctioned mixed

martial arts tournament in the state of California will potentially be awarded the opportunity to challenge

Strikeforce World Middleweight Champion, Frank Shamrock. 

 

In other action on the Strikeforce mixed martial arts mega-card presented by BodogFIGHT, heavyweight

superstars Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello (23-9) and Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem

(25-11) will battle to become the first Strikeforce world heavyweight mixed martial arts champion in history. 

 

Unbeaten world kickboxing champion and mixed martial artist Cung Le (20-0) will make his highly-

anticipated return to the cage for a middleweight (185 lb. limit) showdown with The Ultimate Fighter Season

2 star Sam “The Squeeze” Morgan (19-8). 

 

World Light Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion Brian “The Mad Stork” Schwartz (18-0) will step in the

cage for the first time in his 16-year professional fighting career to face Lemont Davis (8-4) in a 175 lb. limit

matchup.

 

Tickets for the Strikeforce extravaganza are on sale at Ticketmaster (408-998-TIXS) and Ticketmaster online

(www.ticketmaster.com) as well as at the HP Pavilion box office (408-287-7070).  Ticket prices range from

$30 to $200.

 

HP Pavilion doors will open for Strikeforce “Four Men Enter, One Man Survives” at 5:30 PM PST on Friday,

November 16th.  The first preliminary bout will begin at 6 PM and the first tournament bout will commence at

7:30 PM. 

 

About Strikeforce

Strikeforce is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made

history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California

state history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd

of 18,265.  Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN

and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company

unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.”  Since then, it has produced the first

SHOWTIME PPV mixed martial arts event in history with its world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni” card

on June 22nd of this year followed by the first-ever mixed martial arts event at the world-famous Playboy

Mansion on September 29th. 

 

For More Information and Fighter Interviews, Please Contact:

Mike Afromowitz

Strikeforce

muaythaimes@aol.com

www.strikeforceusa.net

 

 

- From Strikeforce with a little editing from us (color, etc...)

 

 

(11/12/07)