Bellator 133 is scheduled for Feb. 13 in California, and the full 12-fight card is complete. The main event is the much talked about middleweight fight between former champion Alexander Shlemenko and Dutch striking specialist Melvin Manhoef.
Shlemenko’s stock has crashed after a two-fight losing streak under the Bellator flag. The back-to-back losses came via choke out to Brandon Halsey and Tito Ortiz, showing Shlemenko’s weaknesses and taking away completely a reputation he had put together the hard way, slogging through the B class competition of Bellator. Now against Manhoef, he is going to probably get a chance to showcase what he is good at, which is stand up fighting.
Shlemenko did win a fight back in his native Russia after the losses to get back on track, but he has always been an active fighter and that is just a return to lower levels of competition. Presumably with a win, Shlemenko as a longtime former champion, would deserve a rematch with Halsey. But if he hasn’t learned how to ground fight after 60 fights, you can pretty much assume he is never going to learn.
In this video blog, our veteran MMA expert Miguel Iturrate previews what the odds might be for Shlemenko-Manhoef and two of the other main fights. Check it out now.
