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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Alright, Twins Live on FSN North has finished and that brings Bellator 23 to the station (finally). With a women's showcase bout and two tournament finals bouts on tonight's card it should be another entertaining Bellator event. The outside venue at 4th Street Live looks like a cool way to watch the fights live.
ROUND ONE: Both fighters circled early. Sexton tried to engage early and Frausto held her off with a nice jab and a leg kick. Sexton continued to walk Frausto down and they traded short punches. Frausto landed a jab. Sexton got in again and got a hold of Frausto's leg, but she could not complete a takedown and pushed Frausto to the cage and landed some nice knees to the leg and body. Sexton grabbed a body lock and got separation. Sexton came forward with her head low and Frausto landed a huge knee to the jaw and knocked Sexton down. She landed a couple of punches and knocked Sexton out cold. Wow! I would think she just took Sexton's spot in the season three tournament.
WINNER: Frausto via KO at 2:00 of the first round
[Commercial Break]
POST FIGHT: Frausto said she definitely got payback for the Frausto family after her sister got beat last week. She said she's been gunning for the top since she entered into the sport and she feels she's there.
STAR RATING: (**+) Too short to be much more, but it was an excellent knee and a great finish by Frausto in that one. Sexton's only previous loss was to Gina Carano, who is a much larger women's fighter, and she was expected to do some damage in the season three tournament. Frausto should earn that spot, even though Sexton is still currently in there, and if they put her in there they'd be smart to match her up against Lisa Ward in round one with the built in storyline of vengeance for her sister.
FIGHT TWO: ALEXANDER SHLEMENKO VS. BRYAN BAKER (MIDDLEWEIGHT TOURNAMENT FINAL)
[Commercial Break]
ROUND ONE: They engage about 20 seconds into the fight and exchange in a short flurry. Shlemenko lands a couple of good punches and knees as Baker got in close. Shlemenko landed a nice spinning back fist. He missed a spinning back kick and Baker got in with a few punches. Baker pressed Shlemenko back and landed a body kick, but Shlemenko caught it and landed a right before pushing him back. Shlemenko landed a push kick and got in with a couple of body punches. Shlemenko landed a hard body kick. He landed a couple of good punches again. Shlemenko landed another really hard body punch. He got in a knee to the body and a few more body punches. Shlemenko landed a big right and then a hard knee to the liver and Baker went to the ground. Shlemenko started landing punches to the head and Baker was rolling around a little bit. He looked really out of it and Shlemenko continued to throw punches. He finally landed a big right and it was clear Baker was out of it and the ref stopped it. Baker tried to protest the stoppage after but it was a good stoppage by the ref. Huge win by Shlemenko.
[Commercial Break]
WINNER: Shlemenko via TKO at 2:45 of the first round
STAR RATING: (***-) That's a big upset by Shlemenko. Baker's only previous loss was by decision to Chael Sonnen, and he was the favorite coming into this tournament. With Shlemenko getting to the finals off of an injury to Jared Hess, he was absolutely not expected to do this. Hell of a win for the Russian, however, and he'll have an incredible opportunity against Hector Lombard in season three.
[Commercial Break]
FIGHT THREE: PATRICIO "PITBULL" FREIRE VS. JOE WARREN (FEATHERWEIGHT TOURNAMENT FINAL)
ROUND ONE: Warren takes the center and hops around a little bit before getting in and clinching in the center of the cage. They traded some knees and Warren got a right in as he separated. Freire landed a nice right. Warren pushed forward and Freire actually took him down. Freire landed a couple of elbows and some punches to the body before Warren got up to his feet. Freire lands a nice right that stops Warren in his tracks as he pressed in. Freire gets in a nice counter left. He lands another straight right. Warren missed a spinning back fist and Freire connected on a combo. Warren got in close and landed a knee, but Freire got in a better one. Warren tried to take him down but he was shrugged off. Freire landed a nice two punch combo. Freire landed another left hook. Freire goes for a standing arm triangle against the cage. He tried to use it to trip Warren up and lost the grip. Freire landed a big uppercut and another flurry. Warren got in for the body lock with under a minute left. Warren landed a couple of punches and elbows and separated. Freire then came in with a big flurry and dropped Warren with a right. He got to the mount. Warren gave up his back and Freire unleashed a ton of punches to the side of the head and Warren was just covering up. This should be stopped. Warren finally moves and Freire locks on a rear naked choke but the round came to an end.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-8 Freire. The damage on the feet and the final flurry at the end that should have stopped the fight should make it a 10-8, but it will probably just be a 10-9 for Freire.
[Commercial Break]
ROUND TWO: Warren came out and landed a right to start the round. Warren pressed in and tried to shoot but he was stuffed. Warren got in again for the clinch and went for the takedown but Freire sprawled and got back up. Freire landed a nice jab. Warren pressed in and tried a jumping knee and some winging punches. He goes to the body lock and lets it go as he throws a knee. Freire gets Warren's back standing. Warren lands some elbows behind him. Freire gets a trip but Warren gets right back up. Warren landed a nice elbow. Warren then shot in and got a takedown. Freire tried to grab wrist control and Warren tried to stay active enough to not be stood up. He gets in some short elbows and forearms, but he's not doing a whole lot. Freire throws his legs up for the triangle but Warren gets out of it. He tries to get another elbow down but it doesn't land. Freire grabs wrist control again. Warren throws down some more elbows. He continues throwing the elbows, even though they're not getting through. He lands a couple of punches to the body. Freire continues to hold off much punishment until the bell rings.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Freire. I can easily see this round going to Warren because he had the positional advantage for the second half of the round, but I don't think it negated what Freire did in the first half. Still, he probably did earn the round on the judges' scorecards.
[Commercial Break]
ROUND THREE: Warren throws some hard punches early in the round and Freire tries to land some of his own. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, Warren finally gets a takedown. He lands a short punch and Freire goes back to wrist control. Warren postured up and landed a few punches before being pulled back to the butterfly guard. Freire throws a couple of punches from the bottom. Warren again tries to land from the top but Freire does a good job defending. Warren stays active with more elbows, forearms and punches. He connects on a couple of good elbows, but they're not very hard. Freire just seems punched out here, and he's not doing anything to get out of this position or even to try a submission. Completely different from what I was expecting from him in this fight. Warren is finally starting to get through with these strikes and he stays on Freire as he tries to work his way up. Freire finally gets up to his feet with just over a minute remaining. Warren grabs a body lock and gets another nice takedown into half guard. He lands a good forearm. Warren landed some more forearms and elbows. Freire tries to kick him off and Warren holds onto his foot as he gets up. Warren grabs a body lock and pushes Freire to the cage and gets one final takedown as the round comes to an end.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Warren. Clear round for Warren. I think he's going to sneak this one out, depending on how the second was scored. It will be an unfortunate loss for Freire if that happens because the fight really should have been stopped in the first when he was raining down the punches when Warren gave up his back.
[Commercial Break]
WINNER: Warren via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
POST FIGHT: Warren said he was tired and happy. He said he had a bad morning but he gave Pitbull credit and said he was a very strong competitor. He said he got caught, but now he's got the check. Bjorn Rebney came in and said he knew for a fact Warren had been sick all day and yet he came in and one and congratulated him. Joe Soto came in and said he would whip on him in their Championship bout. Warren said he knows he'll have the belt around his waist after they fight in the next few months.
STAR RATING: (***-) The first round contained all the excitement, but Warren was allowed to survive and Freire let it slip away. I don't hate the decision because Freire did nothing to get up in the second round when Warren took him down, and the way MMA is scored right now it went down as it could have been expected. The fact that Warren was able to go to a decision three times in 12 weeks is a damned impressive feat, especially if he was legitimately sick all day today, but Freire really let that one get away from him and he'll have some things he'll regret from this fight.
[Commercial Break]
FIGHT FOUR: NICK MAMALIS VS. ALBERT RIOS (SEASON THREE BANTAMWEIGHT TOURNAMENT QUALIFIER)
ROUND ONE: Mamalis throws an early high kick as they circled around each other. Rios tried to press Mamalis back and he got rocked with a big combination from Mamalis. Mamalis lands some good punches against the cage and then backs off. Rios tries to push forward again with a leg kick. He gets in with a good hook and closes the distance. Mamalis then flung him to the cage and grabbed a single leg. He then tripped Rios up. Rios got up however. Mamalis caught a kick and picked Rios up. Rios tried to grab a guillotine and Mamalis needed to get out of it. Mamalis stayed on him and got a takedown. Rios grabbed a tight guillotine but Mamalis was able to pop his head out and they got back up. Rios came forward but Mamalis landed a couple of punches. Rios landed a body kick. Mamalis pushed back forward and got in a good combination. Rios got back in with a good leg kick. Mamalis landed a nice combination, got in with another and then landed a side kick to the body. Rios came back after him with a combo and a good kick. Mamalis pressed Rios to the cage and landed some big punches on the cage. He dropped him with a couple of uppercuts and pounced. He started landing some good elbows and punches. He got some big elbows and Rios was not doing much and the ref had to stop it with not much time left in the first round. Excellent performance by Mamalis.
[Commercial Break]
WINNER: Mamalis via TKO at 4:40 of the first round
POST FIGHT: Mamalis said he guesses he's still the underdog so there will be a few more upsets on coming up. He said it doesn't matter if he's the underdog or the favorite, he's coming out either way.
STAR RATING: (**+) That was a fun back and forth fight with an impressive finish by Mamalis. He's earned a tournament spot the hard way with two upset victories, we'll see how long he can ride that momentum when season three begins in August.
That's another Bellator event in the books, and they're now on hiatus until the 12th of August. We're not done with MMA action this week, however, as Fedor Emelianenko returns to the cage on Showtime this Saturday against Fabricio Werdum, so stay tuned this weekend for plenty of coverage of the Strikeforce and M-1 Global event before we turn our attention to perhaps the biggest Heavyweight Championship fight in UFC history at UFC 116 between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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