ESPN’s Roman Madrowski has confirmed that Strikeforce’s Fedor Emelianenko Show will be coming to Chicago on November 7. Emelianenko’s fight with Brett Rogers will anchor the CBS network telecast.
UFC 90 posted a $2.85 million gate and over 15,000 fans when they visited the Allstate Arena last October, and at least 14,000 of them wanted to fillet Anderson Silva for dancing around Patrick Cote. Strikeforce is reportedly eyeing the 10-12,000 seat Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates for the event, which was recently subject to foreclosure by city officials. Tough economy.
Strikeforce may not care about the turnstile passes: ratings are what matter. And when it comes to eyeballs, Emelianenko has never proven himself to be a major draw. On the plus side, he’s never had something with the reach of CBS putting him up for consumption. Hell, they made a star out of Jon Cryer, and if you ever saw “Superman IV,” you weren’t placing any bets on that.