Gracie-Salgado Lined Up for ‘Fedor vs. Silva’ Undercard

A welterweight scrap between Igor Gracie and John Salgado is in the works for Strikeforce/M-1 Global “Fedor vs. Silva” on Feb. 12 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J.

The event will be headlined by the titular heavyweight tilt between Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio Silva. Also featured will be a second quarter-final in Strikeforce’s 2011 heavyweight grand prix, as former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski will square off with Sergei Kharitonov.

Sherdog learned of the preliminary Gracie-Salgado bout from sources close to the matchup on Friday. Bout agreements have yet to be signed, and the fight has not yet been made official by Strikeforce.

The son of family champion Rolls Gracie, Gracie has had mixed results in his MMA career thus far. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt has fought exclusively in the Northeast since he began his career in 2008. Following a decision loss in his debut, Gracie battled back with a win at Ring of Combat 22 in Atlantic City, N.J. The Brazilian again tasted defeat in his third outing, dropping a decision to Vagner Rocha at Bellator 11 in June 2009. His most recent outing resulted in victory, as Gracie submitted Chris Vorano at a Canadian event 13 months ago.

Like Gracie, Salgado is a Ring of Combat veteran, posting a 2-3 record in the promotion. “Greco” made his M-1 debut in April, earning a split decision victory over Renato Migliaccio in April. Salgado limps into his bout with Gracie off back-to-back losses. After outpointing Migliaccio, the Team Energy representative returned to the ring just two weeks later at Ring of Combat 29, where he was submitted by Mike Medrano with a north-south choke. Salgado most recently fell to UFC veteran Chris Liguori by decision in November.

“Fedor vs. Silva” features an all-heavyweight main card and will showcase three alternate tournament bouts, including a fight matching Strikeforce Challengers series standouts Lavar Johnson and Shane del Rosario, as well as bouts pitting Valentijn Overeem against Ray Sefo and Chad Griggs against Gian Villante.

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UFC 121 Preview: The Undercard

Tom Lawlor (left) file photo: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com

In the annals of MMA, there is only one thing cooler than the legendary “Just Bleed” guy or Dan Severn’s moustache, and that’s Tom Lawlor paying tribute to both in his UFC weigh-ins and entrances to the cage. In terms of pre-fight awesomeness, Lawlor consistently breaks the scale each time he weighs in.

For a guy that probably has the best sense of humor and awareness of obscure MMA memes to get hardcore fans’ attention, while enthralling casual types to watch him throw down, Lawlor fights his ass off, to boot. Since losing on season eight of “The Ultimate Fighter” to eventual winner Ryan Bader, he’s steadily improved, using his good wrestling and rock ‘em-sock ’em style to establish himself as a fan favorite.

Cote, meanwhile, has proven that you can never judge a guy from one fight. He’s been impressive in victories, showcasing his big right hand and decent takedown defense, underwritten with good conditioning and very good chin. He blitzed Kendall Grove in a bout where most perceived him as an easy opponent for the TUF 3 winner. Cote remains based largely in a standup style, hoping to avert a ground fight by waiting to land his heavy strikes.

Lawlor should be careful closing the gap, and establish the threat of his good takedowns early to keep Cote guessing. Lawlor is very good at transitioning between tie-ups and striking when in close, and has sneaky uppercuts from this position. He’ll probably want to feel out the standing situation a bit before letting the dogs loose, especially with a strong-chinned banger like Cote. The more tie-ups and grappling the bout has, the more it favors Lawlor, who should be able to take a close decision win in a good, but not great, bout.

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