Last night’s Bellator 120 event came to us from Southaven, Mississippi and featured an inter-divisional super-fight between Middleweight Champion Alexander Shlemenko and imported former UFC Light heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz. The two locked horns, and less than 5 minutes later, the medical team struggled to wake up the sleeping Russian who succumbed to an arm triangle choke with no real resistance.
Poor Shlemenko seems to have believed Bellator’s hype, and he was favored heading into this fight with the veteran Ortiz. What he forgot is that Bellator continues to throw ‘bangers’ at him, and that his striking game is elite, so he has thrived on taking out lesser competition. Remember that Hector Lombard took out Shlemenko, and it took the Cuban’s leaving for the UFC for Shlemenko to actually grab the belt. And Lombard in the UFC? He is now a welterweight, as he was lost in the UFC’s Middleweight class. Being the best Russian fighter nowadays, is like being the prettiest waitress at the Waffle House.
So this was woeful matchmaking by Bellator. They bring in Ortiz, a faded but very proud athlete and they make no bones about the fact tat Shlemenko is their man. Meanwhile, the size difference alone and Shlemenko’s glaring weaknesses on the ground should have made this a match to avoid, for fear that what did happen might happen.
In the pre-fight interviews, Ortiz was his usual self. He was scowling and talking his usual HB Bad Boy cliches. When the subject of Shlemenko’s experience was bought up, Ortiz made light of the Russians vast experience and 50 fights won in MMA, saying that despite the numbers, Shlemenko’s resume did not stack up to his seventeen years in the business. As it is, it turns out Ortiz was right, and the Bellator management team sits an scratches their heads.
As for Shlemenko, he looks really bad right now. Bellator has allowed Shlemenko and his management team to practically take over the booking of Russian fighters, which is once again a huge management error that prevents truly getting the best competition. For Shlemenko, the competition at Middleweight looks more like castoffs from a casting for the movie ‘Clerks 3’ than an MMA roster, and that should be just about enough to keep the Russian on top in the Bellator Middleweight division.
