Bellator 126: Brandon Halsey Submits Alexander Shlemenko

In Friday’s Bellator 126 main event Brandon Halsey shocked the world by quickly defeating the defending champion, Alexander Shlemenko. Shlemenko had recently come off a loss to Tito Ortiz in a catch weight bout. Though Ortiz is on the tail end of his career, Shlemenko was not too negatively impacted by the loss due to an enormous size discrepancy in that bout. Coming into the fight against Shlemenko, Halsey was touting a 7-0 undefeated record that allowed some to believe he was capable of dethroning the middleweight champ, but others doubted. The doubt was more due to Shlemenko’s experience, at 57 professional fights, and coming away with a W in 50, his ring time was something to take into account. The scary thing about an undefeated prospect like Halsey is you don’t truly know where they stand, or if they will rise to the occasion when faced with top ranked fighters. On Friday night, Halsey not only defeated Shlemenko, but he did it in quick and dominant fashion by submitting the now former champion at just 35 seconds of the first round via rear naked choke.

If Halsey wasn’t on your radar before, he better be now. The undefeated champion is 28 years old and in his athletic prime with very little wear and tear. The victory over Shlemenko was no fluke event. Just two months ago Halsey picked up a submission victory in round 1 over former contender Brett Cooper. With only 8 professional fights it’s still difficult to determine his trajectory, but then again only two of those fights have come out of smaller organizations. He has only fought since 2012 and only been under the Bellator MMA banner since 2013 and now he is champion. It’s become abundantly clear that Bellator MMA may have developed yet another top fighter. Stay tuned to themmacorner.com for news related to this great young fighter and who he will face in his first title defense.