Once again we had excellent live coverage this week from on-site for Bellator Fighting Championships. This week it was Jason Schielke, MMATorch's own licensed MMA judge, taking on the duties from the Power and Light District in Kansas City. With the event once again on tape delay here in Minnesota, I'll stick to the fights themselves in this report. Now let's get to action at this open air event!
FIGHT ONE: ERIC SCHAMBARI VS. LUKE ZACHRICH (MIDDLEWEIGHT QUARTERFINAL)
ROUND ONE: Schambari moves in with a couple of jabs early. He continues to close the distance and then shoots in. Zachrich sprawls and holds it off. Schambari gets in a knee after Zachrich lands an uppercut. Zachrich stuffs another takedown but Schambari stays on him. Zachrich nearly locks in a guillotine as Schambari tried to pick him up and slam him. He moved to half guard and started trying to set up an arm triangle. He lost the hold. Zachrich swept him from the half guard and Schambari tried to get a guillotine on. Zachrich got out of it and moved Schambari to the cage. Schambari moved to his feet. He caught a knee and drove Zachrich to the ground. Schambari passed to half guard. Zachrich tried to roll but Schambari stepped over to half guard on the other side. He grabbed the arm triangle and didn't even step over and forced the tap. That was a strength submission. Very impressive.
WINNER: Schambari via submission (arm triangle) at 3:34 of the first round
STAR RATING: (**) Impressive finish considering the position he was in there. It didn't look like it was in real tight but he used a lot of strength to get that locked in. Nice submission.
FIGHT TWO: MATT MAJOR VS. ALEXANDER SHLEMENKO (MIDDLEWEIGHT QUARTERFINAL)
ROUND ONE: Major comes out to the center and presses Shlemenko early. Shlemenko backs him off with a spinning back kick. He lands a body kick. They trade shots. Shlemenko again lands the spinning back kick. He gets in with a spinning back kick. Shlemenko lands an overhand left. He pushes major back with a combo. Shlemenko tries a spinning high kick. Major pushes forward. Shlemenko misses a spinning back fist. Shlemenko lands a good body punch and pushes Major to the cage. Another spinning back fist and then a spinning back kick from Shlemenko. Shlemenko goes to the body again and lands another kick. He pushes in with another body kick. Again he misses a spinning back fist. He tries a superman punch and misses. Another spin kick. Shlemenko lands a leg kick as Major tries to walk him down. Major gets in with a couple of jabs. Shlemenko lands a couple of punches. Major backs away from another spinning kick. Shlemenko lands a body kick. Major lands a good one of his own as Shlemenko comes in. Shlemenko connects on a spinning back fist after missing one. Shlemenko walks him down and lands a combo. Major lands a knee to the body and then a side kick. Shlemenko gets in with a combo and backs out. Shlemenko with another good combo. Major continues to come forward. Major shoots but gets stuffed. Shlemenko with another spinning back fist. He lands a good kick to the body.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Shlemenko. He's very active with his striking and very unpredictable, but he's missing a lot of these spinning shots.
ROUND TWO: Major comes forward and lands a combo. Shlemenko pushes him back with another spinning kick. Major lands a leg kick and avoids a spinning back fist. Shlemenko lands a hard spinning kick to the body. Shlemenko lands a good right against the cage. Shlemenko landed another spinning kick to the body. He gets in another combo. Shlemenko lands an overhand right. Major moves forward with a combo. Shlemenko lands a nice left. Shlemenko landed a left again. He misses on a spinning kick. He lands a very nice punch to the body. Major gets a good combo in and avoids another spinning back fist. Shlemenko misses a big left. Shlemenko pushes him forward with punches to the body. Shlemenko lands another good kick but Major partially blocked it. Major pushes Shlemenko to the cage but eats a combo from the Russian. Shlemenko goes for another spinning kick but gets tripped up and Major gets down into his guard. He lands some short body punches. Shlemenko holds off the damage for the most part. Major's not doing much with the position here. Shlemenko rolls and gets back to his feet. He lands a spinning back fist and a couple of knees but one lands low with seven seconds left in the round and the ref calls for time. He doesn't actually give him time, though. They start up and Major blocks another spinning back kick from Shlemenko.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Shlemenko. Major's getting cracked here, but Shlemenko's missing on a lot of these shots.
ROUND THREE: Shlemenko lands a right early. He lands a spinning back kick to the body. He gets in a couple more body shots. Another spinning kick lands. Another body punch and then a nice kick to the body. He lands another spinning kick to the body. Another body punch. He's getting in and out really nicely. Spinning back kick to the body. Another spinning kick lands high and Shlemenko calmly steps away. He lands another combo. He rocks Major with some big punches but Major survives. Shlemenko doesn't stay on him and allows him to recover. Major gets in a combo. Shlemenko with a spinning back kick and then a spinning back fist. Major gets in a short punch. Another spinning back fist from Shlemenko. And another, but they're blocked. Nice body punch again from Shlemenko. Nice left lands from Shlemenko and he gets in and takes Major's back standing. He lets it go and separates. Major gets in a nice knee. Shlemenko lands another knee. Major gets a takedown with just over a minute left. Major lands some short punches. Shlemenko tries for a triangle but he gets out and back to his feet.Shlemenko with another spinning kick. He landed a huge left to Major's jaw and he stood up. Shlemenko knocked Major's mouthpiece out with a spinning back fist and time was called again.The fight ended with the fighters trading spinning back fists.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Shlemenko. Major had a ton of heart and he's got a very good chin, but this was Shlemenko's fight all the way.
WINNER: Shlemenko via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
STAR RATING: (***-) Very entertaining fight. Neither came close to finishing it, but Shlemenko was slightly flashy and definitely unorthodox. He was throwing everything at Major and it was fun to watch.
FIGHT THREE: SEAN LOEFFLER VS. BRYAN BAKER (MIDDLEWEIGHT QUARTERFINAL)
ROUND ONE: Baker lands an early jab as he hopped around the outside. Loeffler lands a leg kick. Baker lands a right and then backs away. Baker takes Loeffler down as Loeffler comes in close. Baker lands some short punches and pushed Loeffler down further. Baker stands up and lands a couple of big punches. Loeffler does a good job of blocking some punches. Baker moves to side control. Loeffler rolls to grab a leg but Baker gets out and stands. He lands a big right and then starts unleashing punches. He's taking a ton of punishment and he rolls to his stomach. The ref steps in and stops it. Nice win for Baker.
WINNER: Baker via TKO at 2:43 of the first round.
STAR RATING: (**) That was a short but vicious performance from Baker. A rematch against Schambari in the semis would be nice.
FIGHT FOUR: JARED HESS VS. RYAN MCGIVERN (MIDDLEWEIGHT QUARTERFINAL)
ROUND ONE: McGivern circled on the outside but Hess shot in almost immediately. Hess picked him up and dropped him and got right to side control. McGivern nicely got him back to guard. Hess stood up and came down with a big right, passing to side control. Again McGivern got it back to the butterfly guard. McGivern lands an upkick as Hess stands up again. Hess threw his legs to the side and dropped into side control. McGivern again was able to get it back to his guard and he pushed Hess off. Hess dropped down with a grazing right. McGivern again kicked Hess off but Hess dropped down with another right. Hess postures up and lands a few short punches. He stands again and drops down with a punch. Hess postures up and lands some punches again. He's keeping active but not doing a ton of damage. McGivern pushes him off again but Hess drops down into side control again. Hess lands some short punches and then gets the crucifix position briefly. McGivern nicely bucks him out of that position, but Hess stayed on top and did more damage until the round ended.
Penick's Analysis: 10-9 Hess. He spent the entire round in top position, but McGivern was defending well for awhile there.
ROUND TWO: Hess pushed forward with a couple of big punches early. He shot in for a single leg and McGivern sprawled nicely. Hess stayed on him, however, and completed the takedown. Hess stood up and McGivern tried to sprawl and grabbed for a single leg himself. Hess held off his attempt on the cage. Hess grabbed a guillotine as he moved to his feet and then jumped up to pull guard and forced the submission. Very nice finish.
WINNER: Hess via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:54 of the second round.
STAR RATING: (**+) Very nice submission after a solid fight. McGivern was stuck defending for much of the fight and Hess just caught him in a very nice choke late.
-That's another event in the books for Bellator, and next week we move on to the semifinals! We'll have more fallout throughout the day tomorrow and then the MMA world gets a breather this weekend before getting right back into things with the Bellator lightweights taking center stage next week before the UFC's return to Montreal on Saturday. For all your MMA needs, check back here at MMATorch.com!
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