Five Nights of STRIKEFORCE on Showtime and SHOExtreme

NEW YORK (May 9, 2012) -- As a prelude to the STRIKEFORCE: World Grand Prix – Heavyweight Tournament Final on Saturday, May 19, SHOWTIME EXTREME will offer replays of STRIKEFORCE fights featuring the four top fighters on the May 19 event -- Josh Barnett, Daniel Cormier, Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson.  Additionally, a number of previous fights including all the heavyweight tournament fights are currently available online at sports.SHO.com.   

The Saturday, May 19, Barnett-Cormier clash for the World Grand Prix heavyweight championship highlights a live four-fight card on SHOWTIME (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).  In the co-feature at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., Melendez defends his STRIKEFORCE lightweight title against former champ and longtime adversary Thomson in the rubber match of an exciting rivalry. Preliminary matches on SHOWTIME EXTREME begin live at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Next week’s line-up of replays will air on SHOWTIME EXTREME beginning at 10 p.m. ET/PT as listed below.

Monday, May 14, will feature Melendez-Thomson II, a thrilling match from 2009 that aired as the undercard of Cung Le vs. Scott Smith.

Wednesday, May 16, Melendez’ fight with Tetsuji Kato will be shown.

Thursday, May 17, SHOWTIME EXTREME will look back at the tournament semifinal fights Barnett vs. Sergio Kharitonov and Cormier’s upset victory over Antonio Silva.
Friday, May 18, just one day before the third fight of their epic rivalry, SHOWTIME EXTREME will re-air the first fight between Melendez and Thomson. 

Full-length fights from every stage of the Strikeforce World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament can now be viewed online at sports.SHO.com