Displaying the ferocious intensity that earned him his nickname, Bryan “the Beast” Baker overpowered the durable Jared Hess, becoming the first man ever to finish him with a third-round TKO in the main event of Bellator 50.
Baker (16-2) wore Hess out over the duration of the bout, and finally took his back and flattened him out early in the third before a hail of strikes forced the referee to call a halt to the action at 2:52 of the round.
With the win, Baker advanced to the Bellator middleweight semifinals, along with last night’s three other main card victors.
Baker, one of the pre-tournament favorites, hopes to make it through the field and earn a shot at middleweight champion Hector Lombard. But before then, he has unfinished business with Alexander Shlemenko, who defeated him in June 2010. At the time, Baker was fighting shortly after being diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia, a fact unknown to few but those in his inner circle.
Now fully healthy, Baker has won three straight, with back-to-back finishes of Hess and Joe Riggs.
The bout with Hess was no cakewalk. The first round in particular was full of wild scrambles and a series of momentum swings that made for great drama. But while Baker came out for the second round looking full of energy, Hess appeared low on gas, and Baker took the fight over until earning the finish.
Baker may get his rematch with Shlemenko, who began his bid for another middleweight title shot with a strong performance, earning a first-round submission victory over Zelg Galesic.
The two were fighting off the fence about 90 seconds into the round when Shlemenko let go of a muay thai clinch and quickly transitioned into a standing guillotine. Galesic found himself trapped against the cage and Shlemenko tightened the hold, forcing the tapout at 1:55 of the round.
The win moves Shlemenko to the semifinals. In season two, he advanced to the finals before losing to champion Hector Lombard in a five-round decision.
“I’m very happy, and I want Hector to be ready, because I’m going to get him,” said Shlemenko (41-7).
Shlemenko wasn’t the only middleweight with a quick finish Saturday night. Brian Rogers also closed out his fight in less than two minutes, earning a TKO win over Victor O’Donnell.
The finish, though, was somewhat controversial. O’Donnell was dropped by a Rogers’ head kick in the corner, and Rogers followed him to the ground, where he landed a series of punches from the top. The referee stopped in to stop the action, but O’Donnell immediately protested, saying he was still intelligently defending himself.
The decision stood, though, and the final time of the finish was 1:56.
“Honestly, I was surprised the ref stopped it, but I’ll take it,” Rogers said. “That’s what I do, I finish.”
Rogers improved to 8-2 with his seventh straight KO/TKO finish.
In the night’s final quarterfinal, Vitor Vianna scraped by Sam Alvey in a close split-decision.
For the early part of the fight, Vianna landed the more impactful strikes but Alvey was the busier of the two fighters. Vianna (13-1-1) picked up the pace as the bout went on and earned several takedowns, though he could never hold Alvey down for long and never came close to submitting him. Vianna ended both the second and third rounds strong, perhaps stealing them late. In the second, he closed with a rear naked choke that was defended to the bell, and in the third he landed his best punch of the fight, a straight right, at the final bell.
Judges scored it 29-28, 29-28, 28-29.
Undercard Results
Rad Martinez def. Bryan Van Hoven via unanimous decision
Ailton Barbosa def Ryan Keenan via rear naked choke, Rd. 1 (1:55)
Brett Cooper def. Valdir Araujo via TKO, Rd. 3 (0:35)
Cristiano Souza def John Kelly via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
J.P. Reese def. Martin Brown via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)