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Bellator's third season came to a close on Thursday at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino and Hotel with Bellator 34 on Fox Sports Net. The card featured two title fights, as Hector Lombard defended his Middleweight Title against season two middleweight tourney winner Alexander Shlemenko, and Zoila Frausto and Megumi Fujii faced off for the very first Bellator Women's 115 lb. Championship.
Lombard retained his Championship in a five round decision victory over Shlemenko, controlling the first four rounds of the fight and winning the fight 49-46 on all three judges scorecards. After a fast paced first round, Lombard spent the rest of the fight securing takedowns without accomplishing much on the ground. But while Shlemenko proved to be a scrappy challenger, the clear decision eventually went to the Champion.
The decision was less clear in the women's title bout. Fujii entered the event with a perfect 22-0 record, the longest unbeaten streak in the history of the sport. But after five rounds of action, the judges were split on the action, and two of them scored the bout for Frausto, handing "Mega Megu" her first ever defeat.
Fujii inexplicably decided to stand with Frausto for almost the entire fight, despite Frausto's clear size and power advantage. The action in the fight was seen many ways by many different observers, and the judges at cageside ultimately felt Frausto had done enough with her striking in the fight, coming down with scores of 48-47 and 49-46 in her favor, with one judge scoring the fight for Fujii 48-47.
Frausto's tournament win came after an upset knockout victory over Rosi Sexton during season two to get her shot in the tournament. A decision win over Jessica Aguilar that was heavily criticized, with most believing Aguilar deserved the nod, put her into this fight, and she pulled off a major upset over the unbeaten Japanese star.
Bellator is expecting a fourth season return in 2011 with tournaments in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions.
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