Bellator 88 goes down this evening at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. and is headlined with a middleweight championship bout between Alexander Shlemenko and Maiquel Falcao for the vacant Bellator 185 pound title.
The card also includes all four Season 8 featherweight tournament quarterfinal match-ups.
Bellator 88 preliminary card bouts will air LIVE on Spike.com starting at 8 p.m. ET, with main card action starting LIVE on Spike TV at 10 p.m. ET. ProMMAnow.com will provide LIVE results of all the action and play-by-play commentary for the main card.
While waiting for the fights to start, be sure to check out our exclusive pre-fight interview with Alexander Shlemenko, who is predicting a quick knockout win over Maiquel Falcao.
Bellator 88 quick results:
Main Card (Spike TV – 10 p.m. ET)
- Middleweight Title: Alexander Shlemenko def. Maiquel Falcao by KO (punches) Rd 2 (2:18)
- Marlon Sandro def. Akop Stepanyan by majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 29-27)
- Mike Richman def. Mitch Jackson by TKO (strikes) Rd 1 (4:57)
- Alexandre “Popo” Bezerra def. Genair da Silva by submission (armbar) Rd 1 (1:40)
Preliminary Card (Spike.com – 8 p.m. ET)
- Magomedrasul Khasbulaev def. Fabricio Guerreiro by submission (arm triangle choke) Rd 2 (1:15)
- Jerrid Burke (155.4) vs. Joe Elmore def. Jerrid Burke by KO (punch) Rd 2 (4:11)
- Ronnie Rogers def. Shane Crenshaw by unanimous decision
- Clay Harvison def. Ururahy Rodrigues by TKO (knee) Rd 3 (3:34)
- George Hickman def. Stephen Upchurch by submission (Rear-Naked Choke) Rd 1 (2:19)
Bellator 88 play-by-play:
Featherweight quarterfinal:
Alexandre Bezerra vs. Genair da Silva
Round 1 – Touch gloves. Overhand right from da Silva. Nice one two from da Silva, shoots, stuffed. Bezerra drops him with a punch and jumps on da Silva’s back, he stands with Popo on his back, hooks in, softening him up. Leaning against cage. Popo falls off and da Silva is inside his guard. Popo goes for a kumura, da Silva gets out and is landing hammerfists. Popo goes for the armbar and da Silva quickly taps when he realizes he has nowhere to roll due to the cage being in the way.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Alexandre “Popo” Bezerra def. Genair da Silva by submission (armbar) Rd 1 (1:40)
Featherweight quarterfinal:
Mitch Jackson vs. Mike Richman
Round 1 – Jackson shoots, stuffed. Clinch, trade knees. Square up. Leg kick from Richman but eats a counter right. Richman scores a flash knockdown on Jackson with a right hook. Jackson recovers, shoots, stuffed. Clinched. Trade knees. Nice left hand from Richman and Jackson goes down, gets up, eats a couple more lefts. Richman drops him again with a punch, lays on top inside Jackson’s guard. Richman postures up with a couple punches, body shots, and ref stands them up. Richman cut under his right eye. Jackson shoots from the outside, stuffed. Head kick blocked by Richman. Jackson seems tentative with his hands now. Jackson throws a high kick, blocked. Richman fires one right back of his own and lands perfect, Jackson goes down, Jackson tries to grab Richman’s leg, but Richman follows up with several punches and hammerfists to his downed opponent, he goes limp and the ref stops it with just a couple seconds left in the round.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Mike Richman def. Mitch Jackson by TKO (strikes) Rd 1 (4:57)
Featherweight quarterfinal:
Marlon Sandro vs. Akop Stepanyan
Round 1 – Touch gloves. Leg kick attempt from Sandro. Sandro shoots, shoved aside. Spinning wheelkick parts Sandro’s hair. Lightning fast. Sandro gets a body lock, drags Akop down but he pops right up. Sandro with a body lock against the cage. Akop needs to keep it standing. Akop gets free and they square up. Leg kick from Akop, Sandro grabs the leg, Akop escapes. Leg kick from Sandro. Spinning back kick from Akop scores. Nice right from Sandro stuns him . Spinning 360 roundhouse from Akop. Spinning back kick from Akop, flying knee scores. Sandro misses a spinning back kick. Body kick from Akop. Sandro shoots from outside, stuffed. Spinning kick from Akop misses, but lands a right hand next. Sandro shoots, stuffed. Drops for a single, picks Sandro up for a big takedown before the bell. But can do nothing with it before the bell. PMN sees it 10-9 Akop Stepanyan.
Round 2 – Head kick from Akop blocked, scores a right hand. Misses a spinning kick. Sandro shoots, stuffed. Spinning back kick scores for Akop, hurts Sandro. He gets up, Spinning kick to the body, then a body kick. Sandro clinches for the takedown but ends up on his back with Akop on top inside half guard. Man Akop is a BAD MAN on his feet. So quick. Akop gets to his feet. Kicks the thigh of Sandro. Ref lets him up. Body kick Akop. Sandro misses a couple punches. Blocks a high kick, lands a body kick. Akop measuring his distance. Sandro playing a counter game. Huge body kick from Akop, Sandro shoots, stuffed. High kick from Akop blocked. Jumping spinning back kick to the gut from Akop. He stuffs a shot. Huge body kick, my GOD! That would KO a lot of guys. Big right hand from Akop on the back of a one two. Sandro shoots for the single, body lock with 20 seconds left. He drags Akop down, and goes for a leg lock but time is up. PMN has it 10-9 Akop. Changed to 9-9 after Ref takes a point, but didn’t announce it until the beginning of the third round. Never seen anything like that before. Welcome to Georgia.
Round 3 – They just took a point from Akop for grabbing the cage BEFORE the round even starts. Spinning kick from Akop, Sandro shoots, stuffed. Sandro gets the single leg takedown. He moves to half guard. Body shots from Akop from the bottom. Sandro with body shots from the top. Akop holding on tight looking for the standup. Body shots from Sandro. Ref stands them up. Three minutes to go. Akop with the leg kick. Spinning head kick from Akop, Sandro dives under and gets the takedown. Sandro inside full guard as Akop holds on. Body shots from Sandro. Sandro picks Akop up for a slam trying to loosen his grip but it doesn’t help. He repeats this three more times until he has Akop’s head against the cage. Sandro landing some ground and pound. Akop recovers full closed guard. Body shots from Sandro. PMN has it 10-9 Sandro and the fight 28-28 (after the point deduction).
OFFICIAL RESULT: Marlon Sandro def. Akop Stepanyan by majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 29-27)
So, let me just say this ruling is bullshit. Sandro scored a takedown at the end of round one and did NOTHING with it. Should’ve been a draw. And the whole announcing the point deduction at the beginning of the next round… what the hell was that? Some tough luck for Akop Stepanyan who deserved another round.
Middleweight championship:
Alexander Shlemenko vs. Maiquel Falcão
Round 1 – Touch gloves. Clinch, Alex backs out. Falcao blocks a kick. Clinch, knee from Falcao, short right. Spinning backfist from Alex and Falcao gets a body lock takedown but Alex pops right up against the cage. Clinched. Left from Falcao, Alex backs out. Left hook from Falcao, then a right. Clinch. Alex misses a punch. Lands a left, a right. Shlemenko with a trip takedown, lands on top inside full guard. Falcao holding on, ref stands them up. Spinning back kick from Alex. Body kick from Falcao. Shlemenko looks “off”. I don’t know what it is. Body lock takedown from Falcao, lands on bottom and Shlemenko gets back up but Falcao drops levels looking for the takedown again. Clinched against the cage. Knee from Shlemenko. Short left hands from Falcao. Knee to the body from both. Body lock from Shlemenko looking for the trip. Pushes Falcao to the cage. PMN sees it 10-9 for Shlemenko.
Round 2 – Body kick from Shlemenko. Body kick Falcao. Body jab from Shlemenko. Right hand, misses a spin kick. Clinched against the cage. Falcao pressing to the cage. Moe to the middle, clinched. Shlemenko backs out. Body kick from Falcao. Body shot from Shlemenko. Right from Falcao, body shot. Couple punches and a Thai plum knee from Shlemenko. Couple more. Backs Falcao to the cage. Couple big body shots. A spinning back kick to the body, then a short right to the chin puts Falcao down. Shlemenko stands over him and drops a couple to the chin and Falcao is out cold and Bellator has a new middleweight champion “Storm” Shlemenko. Now go watch our interview with him where he said he would knock Falcao out!
OFFICIAL RESULT: Alexander Shlemenko def. Maiquel Falcao by knockout (punches) Rd 2 (2:18)
This has been a long time coming for Shlemenko. It was 15 months since his last Bellator fight waiting to get his title shot.