(The Shlemenko vs. Falcao stoppage)
Last night’s Bellator middleweight title fight between ever-twirling Russian Alexander Shlemenko and hard-sluggin’ Brazilian Maiquel Falcao didn’t disappoint. After an evenly-pitched first round that featured both men making statements with their striking — and Falcao mixing in a couple takedowns — Shlemenko focused his attacks on the body in round 2, hurting Falcao with a liver punch then dropping him with a short right hand. Shlemenko fired down a few more body shots from above before KO’ing Falcao with a precision head-shot. Shlemenko earns the vacant middleweight title in impressive fashion, and will now take a break until the Season 8 middleweight tournament produces his first challenger.
Also on the Bellator 88 card, the featherweight tournament quarterfinals were highlighted by returning contender Mike Richman, who scored his third knockout under the Bellator banner with a head-kick-and-punches stoppage of Mitch Jackson — pretty much the same thing he did to Jeremy Spoon last October, only this time with Dan Miragliotta doing his lovable late-stoppage thing. You can watch the Richman/Jackson KO after the jump, along with five more stoppages from the event. Full results are below.
Main Card
– Alexander Shlemenko def. Maiquel Falcao via KO, 2:18 of round 2
– Marlon Sandro def. Akop Stepanyan via majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 29-27) – Stepanyan was docked a point in round 2 for fence-grabbing
– Mike Richman def. Mitch Jackson via TKO (head-kick and punches), 4:57 of round 1
– Alexandre Bezerra def. Genair Da Silva via submission (armbar), 1:40 of round 1
Preliminary Card
– Frodo Khasbulaev def. Fabricio Guerreiro via submission (arm triangle), 1:15 of round 2
– George Hickman def. Stephen Upchurch via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:19 of round 1
– Clay Harvison def. Ururahy Rodrigues via KO, 3:34 of round 3
– Ronnie Rogers def. Shane Crenshaw via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
– Joe Elmore def. Jerrid Burke via KO, 4:11 of round 2
(Mike Richman vs. Mitch Jackson)
(Alexandre Bezerra vs. Genair Da Silva)
(Frodo Khasbulaev vs. Fabricio Guerreiro)
(George Hickman vs. Stephen Upchurch)
(Clay Harvison vs. Ururahy Rodrigues)
(Joe Elmore vs. Jerrid Burke)