Strikeforce announced the rules for its four-woman elimination tournament to be held at the Aug. 13 Strikeforce Challengers show in Phoenix, Ariz.

The tournament will feature 135-pound fighters Miesha Tate, Maiju Kujala, Hitomi Akano and Carina Damm. Colleen Schneider and Liz Carmouche will compete in the tournament's reserve bout on the preliminary portion of the card.

Here are the rules:

• STRIKEFORCE will host a random drawing at the official weigh-in to determine the first round (semi-final) match ups.

• All tournament bouts will be scheduled for three (3), three (3) minute rounds.

• If a tournament match is scored a draw, a fourth, "sudden victory" round will be contested to determine the winner. That sudden victory round will be scored independently and will determine which fighter advances.

• Each of the winners from the two semi-final matches will advance and compete in the tournament final contested later in the show.

• If the winner of a completed semi-final bout can not advance due to injury or any other reason the winner of the "reserve match" contested earlier in the evening, will advance in their place.

• If a semi-final bout ends prematurely due to an accidental, unintentional or no-fault foul, the "survivor rule" will be implemented. The fighter who is fit to continue will advance.

• If a draw occurs in the tournament final, a sudden victory round will determine the tournament champion. The tournament champion will receive an opportunity to fight for the STRIKEFORCE Welterweight title.

I like this is going to be three-round fights, even if the time has to be chopped due to regulations. That is a bonus. It makes it to where it's not like the YAMMA tournament, which was one round, where if you were a wrestler, you could get one takedown and lay-and-pray your way to victory. This adds a bit more to it.

The "survivor rule" leaves the possibility for something wacky to happen, but it's nice that the promotion has something on the books for that instance rather than going at it haphazardly.

Tournaments are always fun to watch and they were something that made PRIDE so special. We'll see how it works out with the women here, but if anything, it will be interesting.

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