Shlemenko-Galesic Middleweight Tourney Bout Set for Bellator 50
Mike Whitman Jul 26, 2011
The first quarterfinal pairing of Bellator
Fighting Championships’ fifth-season middleweight tournament is
now set, as Alexander
Shlemenko and Zelg
Galesic have agreed to square off at
Bellator 50.
Sherdog.com confirmed the matchup with a source close to the bout Tuesday following an initial report from MMAJunkie.com.
Bellator 50 goes down Sept. 17 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino in Hollywood, Fla., and will likely feature all four
middleweight tournament quarterfinals.
Bellator’s second-season middleweight tournament champion, Shlemenko (Pictured) has lost only once in his last nine fights. After earning victories over Matt Major, Jared Hess and Bryan Baker through the first half of 2010, “Storm” was outpointed by reigning Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard in October.
The 27-year-old has rebounded from his failed attempt to capture the title with back-to-back wins in 2011, knocking out Nick Wagner in March before outpointing Brett Cooper in May.
Known for his powerful strikes, Galesic is a veteran of both Dream and Cage Rage competition. The 32-year-old fought his way to the semifinals of Dream’s 2008 middleweight grand prix, but was submitted by Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Ronaldo Souza with an armbar in just 87 seconds.
The Croat followed that loss with another defeat, falling by kneebar to Kazushi Sakuraba in 2009, despite inflicting considerable damage to the Japanese MMA pioneer. After 15 months on the shelf, Galesic returned to competition this March, knocking out Lee Chadwick in the first round.
Sherdog.com confirmed the matchup with a source close to the bout Tuesday following an initial report from MMAJunkie.com.
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Bellator’s second-season middleweight tournament champion, Shlemenko (Pictured) has lost only once in his last nine fights. After earning victories over Matt Major, Jared Hess and Bryan Baker through the first half of 2010, “Storm” was outpointed by reigning Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard in October.
The 27-year-old has rebounded from his failed attempt to capture the title with back-to-back wins in 2011, knocking out Nick Wagner in March before outpointing Brett Cooper in May.
Known for his powerful strikes, Galesic is a veteran of both Dream and Cage Rage competition. The 32-year-old fought his way to the semifinals of Dream’s 2008 middleweight grand prix, but was submitted by Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Ronaldo Souza with an armbar in just 87 seconds.
The Croat followed that loss with another defeat, falling by kneebar to Kazushi Sakuraba in 2009, despite inflicting considerable damage to the Japanese MMA pioneer. After 15 months on the shelf, Galesic returned to competition this March, knocking out Lee Chadwick in the first round.
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