Alexander Shlemenko battled through an absolute slugfest to advance to the Bellator middleweight tournament finals, but he'll have a beast awaiting him. Right before Shlemenko finished off Brian Rogers, Vitor Vianna sent a resounding message by running over Bryan Baker with a first round TKO finish at Bellator 54 in Atlantic City.
Vianna (13-1-1), who trains at Wanderlei Silva's Wand Fight Team in Las Vegas, decided to stand and bang with Baker. The jiu-jitsu ace showed he has thunder in his hands.
Vianna floored Baker with a well-placed right hook to the temple. Once Baker went down, Vianna sat on Baker, who was trapped along the cage, and punched away before the referee stopped things. The Brazilian actually caught a break. When Baker was on his hands and knees, Vianna nearly connected with an illegal soccer kick to the face.
Bellator 135-pound champion Zack Makovsky rolled in a non-title fight against UFC veteran Ryan Roberts. Frankly, Roberts looked a bit amateurish in being taken down twice by Makovsky using a low-single leg takedown. Once on the ground, Makovsky easily passed guard to side control. The second time, Makovsky quickly transitioned to slap on a north-south choke. The champ will now wait to see what happens in Bellator's bantamweight tournament.
Next week at Bellator 55 in Yuma, Az., 40-year-old Alexis Vila will try to continue his amazing run. The former Cuban Olympian will face Marcos Galvao. Ed West, a finalist in last year's 135-pound tourney faces Eduardo Duntas in the other semifinal. The winner of the tournament gets a title shot against Makovsky.
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