Filed under: Bellator
Alexander Shlemenko and Vitor Vianna put on a couple of exceptional performances Saturday night at Bellator 54, winning their semifinal fights and advancing to the finals of the Bellator Fighting Championships middleweight tournament.
Shlemenko used vicious knees to finish off Brian Rogers in the main event, winning a second-round TKO after a round and a half of wild, back-and-forth brawling. Rogers hurt Shlemenko with some hard shots to the body, but it was Shlemenko’s more diverse striking arsenal that was the difference in the fight. As he always does, Shlemenko showed off some of his trademark spinning strikes, but what was even more impressive was the way Shlemenko would control Rogers in the clinch and land knees, both to the body and to the head. Eventually those knees connected enough times that Rogers had no answer, and the referee stopped the fight.
Now Shlemenko will advance to the tournament final, where he’ll face Vianna — who looked plenty good himself on Saturday night.
Vianna is known primarily as a Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner, but it was his striking that looked sensational in his victory over Bryan Baker. Vianna leveled Baker with an overhand right, then pounced on him against the cage and finished him with hammer fists. Vianna’s TKO victory lasted just 54 seconds.
Afterward Vianna said he’s looking forward to the chance to face Shlemenko.
“He’s a tough fighter. I know it will be a great challenge. I will be ready,” Vianna said.
In a non-title fight, Bellator bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky sunk in a north-south choke to force Ryan Roberts to tap out with just seconds remaining in the first round. It was an easy victory for Makovsky, who ran his record to 14-2, including 6-0 in Bellator.
And in the first fight of the live MTV2 card, Rene Nazare, a previously undefeated Brazilian lightweight who was viewed by many as a promising prospect, was soundly beaten by Jacob Kirwan. Two judges gave the fight to Kirwan 30-27, and one judge scored it 29-28. It was a disappointing performance from Nazare and the biggest win of Kirwan’s career.