Four of the principal fighters competing in the STRIKEFORCE St. Louis: Heavy Artillery event at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., on Saturday, May 15 LIVE on SHOWTIME® at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) participated in a national conference call on Thursday.
Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (15-7) will face off with Antonio “Big Foot” Silva (13-2) in a featured heavyweight bout. The 31-year-old Arlovski’s start will be his first since an upset defeat to Brett Rogers. A former UFC heavyweight champion, Arlovski had won five in a row in the UFC before suffering back-to-back losses to Fedor Emelianenko and Rogers.
Unbeaten Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sensation Roger Gracie (2-0) submitted all eight of his opponents en route to winning the coveted ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in 2005. The second degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt’s submission skills have proven their worth in MMA competition as the 6-foot-4 heavyweight has won his two professional fights via submission. Gracie’s opponent Kevin Randleman (17-14) captured back-to-back NCAA Division I national wrestling titles in 1992 and 1993 while attending Ohio State University. His stellar collegiate career gained him entry into the school’s Hall Of Fame in 2004. Randleman has been a force in MMA for years, winning the UFC title in 1999 and competing in Japan’s PRIDE Fighting Championships.
In the main event, STRIKEFORCE World Heavyweight Champion Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem (32-11) will put his title on the line against heavy-handed knockout artist Brett “The Grim” Rogers (10-1).
ANDREI ARLOVSKI
“This fight is very important for me. It’s been about nine months since my last fight so I just can’t wait to fight again. “After I lost to Brett Rogers (June, 2009) I had meetings with all my trainers and they gave me a lot of ultimatums and said that I had to do it their way or that I would have to start to look for new trainers. When I fought Rogers I didn’t stick to my game plan and I didn’t take him seriously. So after that loss I just kept training and training and in November of 2009 I met with Greg Jackson and started training with him. I came back and trained in Chicago and then started working with Bob Cook and the guys at AKA Academy and then went back to Chicago. So I’ve had a lot of experience with different trainers. Everything happens for a reason and I’m more disciplined now. I’m definitely going to stick to my game plan. No more putting my hands down like I did against Rogers. I just can’t lose again. It’s very dramatic for me to lose fights and I want to climb back into the top. It’s going to be a very tough and important fight for me.
“(Silva) is very dangerous on the ground. That’s why I have spent a lot of time here in Chicago with some big heavy guys training a lot on the ground. He’s an all-around fighter. His striking is good. He’s good on the ground. He has long arms. He’s really dangerous. I have to be really prepared for this fight.”
Who would you like to fight next?
“Before I fought Rogers my mind was on (Fedor) Emelianenko. Now, it’s one step at a time. After May 15 then we can talk. Of course, it’s up to Strikeforce. So now I just focus on May 15 against Big Foot. He’s tough and he’s dangerous.
“Now that I’m in Chicago all my good friends are here and like brothers to me and they support me all the time and they try to keep me in a right way. Before I was in a relationship and all the time I worried about where my girlfriend was going to sit or how was she going to fly to the place where I am. Now I have a great girlfriend who supports me and she never asks me, ‘Oh, can I go?’ She lets me focus on my MMA career. Now, it’s just train hard, sleep and eat. I’m just focused on my MMA career and climbing back to the top.
“I still train with Freddie Roach. My boxing debut was going to be June 27 but then I fought Rogers and he knocked me out so it didn’t happen.
“I need to stick to my game plan and be more disciplined. I’m not talking about discipline like with my private life or outside the gym. I have to be more disciplined during my workouts and during my fights.”
ANTONIO SILVA
“I would like to thank everyone for this opportunity. You can expect a knock out or a submission from me on May 15.
“(My last fight) was a big lesson for me (a loss to Werdum on the Fedor-Rogers undercard). I had the opportunity but I could not do it. I fractured my hand and I’m not going to let something like this happen again.
“Because of my former suspension it had been awhile since I fought in the states and I wanted to put on a show. When I got Werdum in trouble instead of going down with him and keeping with ground and pound when he tried to grab my leg I stepped back and let him get back up. I broke my hand at the beginning of the second round after a left hook and it was really bothering me and I wasn’t the same after that. But that’s all in the past now.
“I’ve been concentrating on improving my strikes. I have a feeling this fight will not go to the end.”
How will you handle Arlovski’s speed?
“I train with guys like Jorge Santiago who are lighter and fast so I am very comfortable with his speed. I’m hoping that the fight stays standing up.
“I’ve been improving my hand speed a lot. This is a heavyweight fight and everyone has heavy hands. If Arlovski blinks he’ll get knocked out. If it goes to the ground, however, I am a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and I’m very comfortable there so I think I’m very comfortable anywhere the fight goes.”
ROGER GRACIE
Why did you come back to MMA after so long away?
“I never planned to be away for so long from MMA. I was trying to come back twice before but I injured myself. I think we are going to do two or three fights a year.
“I’ve been training about eight weeks already. I never stop training but as my fight gets closer it intensifies. I’ve been training MMA for about four weeks now.
“This fight can go any direction so I have to be ready for anything. I think I’ve trained enough.
“I believe I can train for both (Jiu-Jitsu and MMA). Of course May 15 is my main focus now but three weeks later I will fight in the Jiu-Jitsu worlds. Before I used to fight in Jiu-Jitsu four or five times a year and I think now I’m down to about two so I can concentrate more on my MMA fights. I feel like I can do both.”
Is there pressure on you because of your famous last name?
“I’ve been hearing that question since I was 10 years old. Of course there’s a lot of weight behind that name and there have been many great fighters for many years. But instead of giving me pressure I think it really pushes me forward and I always feel I have to train harder and I have to do better than everyone else because I have that name. I’m 28 years old now and I have learned to use that pressure and to push forward. You start gaining extra strength from it.
KEVIN RANDLEMAN
“Without the Gracie name we wouldn’t be where we are today in the world of MMA so my thanks to the Gracie clan. I’m under no false impression that I’m going to beat Roger Gracie at his game. I’m just going to try my best to use my game and try to do my best to not let him put me on my back.
“I’ve been working with world-champion boxers for the past year. There were many things I couldn’t do before because of injuries. Both of my shoulders have been re-done over the last four years. Now that I’ve fixed them my boxing is good. My wrestling will always be good. Fighting a guy like Roger Gracie … I’ve watched his Jiu-Jitsu and he is phenomenal. A guy like Roger Gracie, it’s just going to be a battle. It’s going to be just like a chess match. Roger Gracie has what he’s very good at and I have what I’m very good at and it actually intersects each another. I’ve been working my hands and my stand up and my muay thai to try and keep myself off of the ground and keep myself in good position.
“I’ve cleaned up not only my act but my game. I’ve added a lot to the arsenal. I train every aspect of the game. I’m ready to fight Roger Gracie. He is and always will be a factor in the MMA world. His family has history and he’s an athlete. A very good athlete and there’s no doubt in my mind his standup is going to be good and his Jiu-Jitsu will be phenomenal.
“There’s absolutely nothing I take for granted. I don’t take my health for granted and I am not taking him lightly. I know that he can rip an arm off from anywhere in the ring. Cardio is the one thing that I’ve worked on the most so that I can just stay ahead of the pace.
“I’m never going to be on the level of a Roger Gracie as far as Jiu-Jitsu goes because his name speaks for itself. This is like a new beginning for me. Before I had a lot of people around me that were very negative and didn’t want to work as hard as I like to work. But being in Vegas and training at the Tap Out facility and working with Randy Coture and Extreme Coture I’m very well prepared. I don’t plan on putting myself in the position where Roger Gracie will be on me. I plan on keeping the fight on the feet. My plan is to stay away from his web.”
“Scott Coker has done one heckuva job of keeping his company pure. He has stuck to his guns and has not let anyone influence him into changing. He’s done his thing the whole time. He lets the fighters go in there and fight. He’s got a lot of 205-pound fighters in there. I think Roger Gracie can be a champion. I know I can be a champion. I don’t believe this is a conservative card. I believe this is phenomenal card because everyone has got a lot of talent. With the progression of our sport, everyone is getting better. And if you’re not practicing every aspect of the game, it’s going to show when the cage closes.”
SCOTT COKER, Strikeforce CEO
“We felt like St. Louis was a market we really wanted to come back to. The fan base was very receptive and the media was receptive and it was such a good experience for us. When a date opened up at the arena we grabbed it and we’re happy to be back.”
How important is it for Strikeforce to have a name like Gracie fighting?
“You know I’ll tell you we’ve been offered many fighters with the last name Gracie. I don’t think we actually pulled the trigger on any of them. The Gracie name has built the sport in the past but there’s a lot of new stars today. It’s a legendary name and like Roger said there’s going to be some pressure that goes with that. As far as a marketing standpoint, is it a gimmick? Absolutely not. We feel this guy can do what he says he can do and if he can then we’ll work him up the ranks. I’m sure Kevin Randleman feels differently about it but that’s the beauty of this sport that on May 15 we’ll be able to shake it all out.
“When you look at this fight card I think it’s stacked from top to bottom. We’re anxious to see Alistair’s comeback and how Brett is going to do. If you look at this card from top to bottom I believe we’re going to have some amazing fights and that’s our commitment to the sport. Without the support of Ken Hershman and the guys over at SHOWTIME, we wouldn’t be able to throw the fight cards as deep as we do. I say to all the media, after the fight on May 15 then you can judge the event, but I wouldn’t have a pre-conditioned idea of what that will be.”
