The two men met in a pivotal middleweight qualifying bout for the upcoming middleweight tournament, which is said to kickoff sometime this summer. Both are all too familiar with the tournament format and were hoping for an impressive showing, and thought only one man left the cage the winner, both put on memorable performances.

Both Alexander and Brett have trained together in the past, and though Cooper stated that he was not particular impressed with Shlemenko when the two have sparred one another, his opinion must have changed quickly once he was caught with a spinning backfist in the early goings of the bout.

Cooper was rocked momentarily, though he quickly responded with a right hand over the top as Alexander waded in for the finish. Neither man backed down, though it seemed that Alexander was just one step ahead of Brett throughout the bout.

In the second-round, Cooper finally secured a takedown after timing one Shlemenko’s spinning backfists, though the Russian proved wily from his back, and eventually worked his way back to his feet. While Brett had his moments over the next two rounds, it was “The Storm” who was getting the better of the exchanges.

Brett’s last chance at glory came when he momentarily dropped Shlemenko to a knee at the end of the second-round, though in the end both men weathered each others storms, and when the score cards were read, all three judges awarded the season two middleweight tournament winner the well deserved decision. Though Cooper came up short in his bid to enter the upcoming tourney, he made a case for himself to remain under the Bellator banner with the gutsy performance.

And in the end, both men can take solace in the fact that those who were in attendance at the Ceasar’s Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, were on their feet for the duration of the bout, and for that, both men earned the evenings unofficial “Fight of the Night”.

Cooper moved up to the middleweight class full time following an impressive showing against Matt Major under the Bellator banner while Alexander won the season two middleweight tournament, pocketed $100k and earned his shot at the title against champion Hector Lombard.

Though he came up short in his bid to become champion, Shlemenko did much to improve his image when tonight he defeated Cooper over the course of a riveting three-round affair.

In the first-round, “The Storm” came out guns blazing, switching stances and hitting several of his signature spinning backfists–one of which caught Cooper and rocked him, though Brett quickly stormed back with a right hand which rocked Alexander momentarily.

The momentum of the ruckus bout carried over the course of the next two-rounds, though in the second the action was a little more tamed when Cooper began employing his grappling skills. On two occasions, Cooper managed to duck under Alexander’s spinning backfists, and on the second one took down the Russian, though only momentarily. Shlemenko proved wily in the clinch, not allowing Cooper to take him down without a fight and eventually wore down the clock till the third-round.

Both men were gassed heading into the final frame, though Alexander continued to flash the spinning backfist. He eventually caught Cooper again with the powerful shot against the cage, though Brett showed his heart is immeasurable. Cooper didn’t stop attack Alexander until the bell sounded, though his last ditch efforts went unheralded.

In the end, Shlemenko was the winner by unanimous decision, and with the win he now finds qualified for the next season’s middleweight tourney, which kicks off this summer.

“Of course it would be my pleasure, I would love to fight Hector (Lombard) again”, said Shlemenko after his bout with Cooper was completed.

“It would be my redemption.”

While a steady stream of new upstart prospects have claimed the titles from the season’s past champions, specifically former featherweight champion Joe Soto relinquishing his title to current title holder Joe Warren in a come-back finish in their September tussle, and former welterweight champion Lyman Good losing to talented Olympic wrestler Ben Askren.

The pressure was all on Hector Lombard, who remained one of the last original champions from Bellator’s first season (Eddie Alvarez has yet to defend his title against season 2 tournament winner Pat Curran sometime in the near future).

A game Alexander Shlemenko entered the cage last night at “Bellator 34″ against the Judo Olympian, and while in the early going it looked like Hector’s approach looked much like his last two outings, get in and get out with quick knockout victories, the Russian middleweight hung tough and weathered the early storm.

Lomard, a native Australian who trains out of American Top Team, fought before an adoring hometown crowd in Florida, and while the fans tried to remain as patient as they could with the Cuban fighter, the next four-rounds were hard to watch.

After a dominant first-round turned in by Lombard, which saw some heavy shots land followed by well executed throws and some well-placed elbows, it looked like he winded himself just from the first stanza, having to carry himself until the final bell.

Lombard still was able to control the action with his effective take downs, however had little behind his ground and pound once the action hit the floor.

In the final round, a live Shlemenko came storming back, landing knees in the clinch, a spinning back fists and a few exchanges on the feet. Alexander won the round on all score cards, but it was not enough, and Lombard was eventually declared the winner, 49-46 all across the board and retained his 185-pound title.

The co-main event of the evening, a flyweight title fight pitting the undefeated and highly decorated Megumi Fujii (thought by many to be the greatest female fighter of all time) against knockout artist Zoila Frausto.

Frausto, who made her debut with Bellator kneeing Rosi Sexton into unconsciousness. Prior to the bout, Sexton was heralded as the best fighter in the flyweight division, though the bout was contested at 125-pounds.

Both Fujii and Frausto battled their way to the finals which culminated last night at Bellator 34. And after a close 5 rounds turned in, where both combatants had their moments in a 25-minute stand up affair, Frausto was ultimately crowned the new Bellator 115-pound champion, and also laid claim to the only woman to defeat Megumi in her entire career, which spanned 22 fights.

So, MMA peeps, what do you think of the results? Did you catch all the action?
Sound off in the comment section below.

When are we going to see any of his infamous Judo skills put to the test?

Since his inception to the aforementioned organization, Lombard has done everything to solidify himself as contender in the discussions of being a top-10 caliber fighter, one that would make Mike Tyson proud, finishing 4 of his 5 Bellator appearances by way of knockout.

While keeping himself busy outside of Bellator, awaiting his next title defense against season 2 tournament winner, Alexander Shlemenko, “Shango” has racked up three wins outside of the promotion, against UFC veteran Kalib Starnes, Art Santore, and Joey Gorczynski.

His time inside Bellator, however, has been nothing but squeemish, coming back strong in 2010, with a 6 second victory over another UFC veteran in Jay Silva (his only loss by knockout in his career).

Tonight, however, might be his most devastating knockout to date. When former NFL player Herbert “Whisper” Goodman signed his contract to face Lombard, he might as well have signed over the right to render himself unconsciousness.

Lombard wasted no time against Goodman, a noted striker in his own right, wading in with powerful hooks, before finally staggering Herbert with a strong right hook against the cage, and one more on the chin sealed the deal. While Lombard would follow to the ground with additional strikes, the damage had already been done, and the American Top Team product notched up his 14th straight win, and 15th knockout victory.

After a failed contract with the now defunct EliteXC promotion, and visa issues with the UFC hindered his debut, Hector Lombard has finally arrived here in the states while in Bellator.

Should Lombard be considered a top-10 fighter in the middleweight division? Assuming he gets passed Shlemenko, who should he fight next?

The “W” was Herman’s third under the ProElite umbrella, a promotion whose heavyweight division has been stung recently with champion “Big Foot” Antonio Silva‘s (11-1) positive test for banned substances and poster boy “Kimbo Slice” Kevin Ferguson‘s (3-1) 14-second KO loss.

The victory came by a combination of knees with Schall in Herman’s Thai clinch and punches once Schall dropped.

After his brief TUF 8 appearance, light heavyweight Jason Guida (17-18) was overwhelmed by “Cannibal” Mamed Khalidov (15-3-1) by second-round TKO at 4:53.

King of the Cage Welterweight Champion Anthony Lapsley (14-3) won a majority decision over Mike Stumpf (10-2) by judges’ scores of 30-27 twice and 29-29.

Middleweight Alexander Shlemenko (22-3) TKO’d “Bubba” Robert McDaniel (11-5) with a knee to McDaniel’s chest the rendered McDaniel unable to answer the second-round bell.

Lightweight Lyle Beerbohm (8-0) opened up a blood-gushing split in Rafaello Oliveira’s (5-1) head with an elbow from the top position, causing the doctor to stop the fight between the first and second round.

Matt Jaggers (8-4) won a UD over Orville Smith (8-1) by judges’ scores of 30-27 twice and 30-26.

“Spider” Jared McMahon (9-0-1) tapped Jacob Hey (4-2) in a rear naked choke at 3:11 of round one.

Jeff Cox (1-2) tapped Jay Ellis (9-25) in a guillotine choke at 0:28 of round one.

Tiawon Howard (6-2) tapped Johnny Hughes (2-5) in a rear naked choke at 3:42 of round one.

Josh Barnes (2-0) TKO’d Jeremy Norton (7-3) at 2:22 of round one.

Deray Davis (3-0-1) tapped John Kuner (0-1) in an armbar at 3:53 of round two.