Bellator Fighting Championships closes out their third season this Thursday, Oct. 28, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., with two title fights.
Bellator 34 will feature middleweight champion and former Judo Olympian Hector “Shango” Lombard defending his title against Russian knockout artist and season two middleweight tournament champ Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko.
Also, number one ranked pound-for-pound female fighter and submission specialist Megumi “Mega Megu” Fujii will face kickboxing queen Zoila “The Warrior Princess” Frausto in a fight for the first ever Bellator 115-pound women’s title.
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney commented on the two Bellator 34 championship fight match-ups:
“Both of these fights should be electrifying. Hector Lombard is the most dynamic and powerful Middleweight in the world today and his challenger; Alexander Shlemenko is a knockout artist from Russia. This fight should be a war.And, when it comes to the Bellator Women’s Title, this really is a dream matchup for the Women’s 115 lb Championship. Fujii is the greatest pound for pound female on earth and Zoila’s striking ability is the better than any woman on earth, south of 125.Fujii’s pound-for-pound title will be on the line in what promises to be one of the most electrifying battles in the history of women’s MMA.”
Hector Lombard (26-2-1, 1 NC) vs. Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko (30-4)
Lombard is on a miraculous 19-fight win streak. He became the Bellator middleweight champ during the promotion’s 2009 inaugural season by defeating Virgil Lozano, James Damien Stelly and Jared Hess all via (T)KO within a three-month period.
Following those wins, he took three fights outside the Bellator promotion and won all three. In May of this year he returned to Bellator in a non-title bout and scored the fastest knockout in company history with a six second annihilation of Jay Silva. In August, he made a repeat performance against Herbert “Whisper” Goodman, knocking him out in just 36-seconds at Bellator 24.
At Bellator 34 this Thursday, Lombard will make his first official title defense against Shlemenko, who actually has a higher knockout percentage than his own.
Shlemenko’s road to the championship took place back in April, May and June. He scored a unanimous decision over Matt Major at Bellator 16, a third round TKO over Jared Hess at Bellator 20 and a first round TKO over Bryan Baker at Bellator 23. The winner of Lombard-Shlemenko will produce what may just be the top middleweight fighting in the world today outside the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Megumi “Mega Megu” Fujii (22-0) vs. Zoila “Warrior Princess” Frausto (8-1)
As for the women’s 115-pound championship, Fujii and Frausto will clash with very different styles. Fujii earned her way to the finals starting with a TKO win over Sarah Schneider at Bellator 21 in June. Surprisingly, it is the only TKO win on her 22-0 record. A whopping 82% of her victories have come by submission, whereas only 22% of Frausto’s wins have come from submissions.
After the Schneider victory, Fujii submitted Carla Esparza, then submitted Lisa Ward. Frausto knocked out Rosi Sexton, won a unanimous decision over Jessica Pene and won a split decision over Jessica Aguilar.
No doubt, Fujii with her vast experience advantage, her submission skills and the fact she is getting better with her striking is going to pose the biggest threat to date for “Warrior Princess” Zoila Frausto. Find out this Thursday if Frausto can rise to the challenge.