Bellator 44 Results: Shlemenko Victorious, Lombard KO's Vitale
Posted on May 14, 2011, 10:55 PM by Joey SantosusBellator 44 delivered an exciting night of fights tonight from Caesar’s Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Xtreme Couture's Michael Chandler outworked Patricky "Pitbull" Freire in the headlining bout, picking up a unanimous decision victory to become the Bellator season 4 Lightweight Tournament Champion, while Middleweight champ Hector Lombard improved his unbeaten streak to 23 with a third-round knockout win over Falaniko Vitale in the co-main event. Giedrius Karavackas bounced back from a rocky start to submit Sam Oropeza late in the third and Alexander Shlemenko outstruck Brett Cooper en-route to a unanimous decision victory.
Lightweight Tournament Champion Michael Chandler is rewarded a $100k cash prize, as well as a future shot at the division title holder Eddie Alvarez.
Main Card:
Michael Chandler def. Patricky "Pitbull" Freire via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
Hector Lombard def. Falaniko Vitale via knockout (punch) - Round 3, 0:54
Giedrius Karavackas def. Sam Oropeza via submission (scarf-hold armlock) - Round 3, 3:59
Alexander Shlemenko def. Brett Cooper via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-28, 29-28)
Photo: Bellator.com
Comments
great fights
Im not sure how Chandler is going to beat Alvarez
Stylistically, I still think Freire was a better match-up for Alvarez...
In Eddie's last fight his wrestling looked ok so Chandler mite be able to exploit that with his wrestling background but I don't see him hving too much success in that fight....hve to go with Alvarez
i dont see chandler able to avoid the boxing of alvarez for 5 rounds, i see chandler getting clipped in the later rounds, alvarez capitalizes and takes the TKO ref stoppage
I think he has a way better shot than Pat Curran though.
funnyest ko ever
man... Hector's an animal, he hasn't been beat in 23 straight fights
he is definitely a top10 middleweight, i actually see him beating okami, bisping or wanderlei.
i disagree. i think okami would beat him. okami's got that long reach with tight punches that would nullilfy lombards wild punches. i mean we just saw the same thing last night, vitale didnt get KO'ed until he tried to open up and trade, before that he was picking his shots and doing decent. okami wouldnt tade with lombard, hed stay on the outside and pepper him with shots until a oppertunity for a takedown (which i think he would be able to get). as for bisping and wand, i believe the bisping fight would be close, but he would be able to stop wand.
Lombards "wild" punches are quite technical, he boxes similar to Mike Tyson
vitale was doing decent but did he win a round?
Anyway i think next to alvarez lombard is probably the best fighter not
under zuffa.. I think he deserves to be at least a top 3 mw
Lombard is no joke. I actually think he can beat Anderson Silva. He has the grappling and Striking to. This guy is on a tear right now, I don't see anyone in Bellator stopping this Cuban Monster.
I like Bellator but dammit Lombard needs bigger names to fight. The guy is an animal, very intimidating.
Lombard vs Wand would be awesome!