By FCF Staff
The Roseland Ballroom in New York City opened its doors to approximately 1,500 fans yesterday, as Strikeforce held a ‘fan experience’ in anticipation of the promotion’s heavyweight grand-prix opening round this Saturday. The event will be hosted by East Rutherford, New Jersey's IZOD Center.
Tourney competitors Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianeko, Andrei Arlovksi, Brett Rogers, Josh Barnett, Sergei Kharitonov and Antonio Silva were all on hand for the autograph and open work-out session, which was hosted by emcee Scott Ferrall.
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| Fedor greeting fans |
"There was no way I was going to miss a chance to meet Fedor and the greatest heavyweights in the world. As soon as I heard about this, I told my boss I was taking the day off,” Dyami Arroyo of The Bronx was quoted saying in a press release from the promotion.
"To get this kind of access to these kinds of fighters is unbelievable,'' Brooklyn’s Joe Doyle noted. "There was no way I wasn't going to be here. I am really happy that Strikeforce did something like this for us. No other MMA organizations do anything like this around here.''
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| The Grand-Prix competitors |
Saturday’s card will feature Emelianeko vs. Silva and Arlovski vs. Kharitonov in opening round action. The event will be broadcast on Showtime.
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| Werdum demontrating his word class submision game |
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| Kharitonov signing an autograph |
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| The Strikeforce heavyweight champ Overeem |
