Falcao-Spang winner meets Shlemenko for Bellator's vacant title

http://mmajunkie.com/news/28428/rebney-falcao-vs-spang-winner-meets-shlemenko-for-bellators-vacant-middleweight-title.mma
Maiquel Falcao (30-4 MMA, 2-0 BFC) and Andreas Spang (8-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC) already knew a win in their season-six tournament final would lead to a championship fight.

They just didn't know who would be on the other side of the cage.

As it turns out, with reigning champion Hector Lombard departing for the UFC, Alexander Shlemenko (45-7 MMA, 7-1 BFC) will face the Falcao vs. Spang winner with the vacant middleweight belt on the line.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney today announced the plans via Twitter.

Falcao, one-time UFC vet, earned his way to the finals with back-to-back wins over Vyacheslav Vasilevsky and Norman Paraisy. Falcao is now 12-1 in his past 13 fights, and while his two Bellator fights have gone to decision, "Big Rig" owns 26 finishes in his 30 career wins.

Meanwhile, Spang was inserted into the tourney semifinals as a late replacement for an injured Bruno Santos and earned a knockout win over Brian Rogers at Bellator 66 in Ohio. It was Spang's third-straight win and first under the Bellator banner. Afterward, he got into trouble with the Ohio commission by shoving Falcao in a promotional staredown.

Falcao and Spang meet at Bellator 70 on May 25 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

Meanwhile, Shlemenko earned his spot with a victory in Bellator's season-five tournament. He was also a season-two tourney winner but fell short against Lombard.

It was expected, but now it's official. Should be an entertaining fight.

Shlemenko vs Falcao would be cool. But imagine the stare down between the roosky and Spang.

Wonder how long they make Shlemenko wait for that?

Love me shlemenko, not a big fan of farming him out to fight in the SFL. He should be fighting a super fight in this season.

captain organic wrote:

Wonder how long they make Shlemenko wait for that?

Love me shlemenko, not a big fan of farming him out to fight in the SFL. He should be fighting a super fight in this season.

Storm got into a car crash not to long so he will be out for awhile anyway.

We will probably see the winner of Spang/Falcao vs Storm face off in next fall season if I would have to take a guess.

Nick Ring or any UFC third stringer MW is as good as the guy fighting Shlemenko

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Nick Ring or any UFC third stringer MW is as good as the guy fighting Shlemenko

Such a noob.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Nick Ring or any UFC third stringer MW is as good as the guy fighting Shlemenko

Yo the guys in the UFC are as good as the guys in Bellator and it is retard internet fag fan opinion to try and elevate the Bellator guys above where their resume or demonstrated fight skills otherwise proves. As if it makes yall "real fans" to inflate Bellator fighters above where they belong. That is kiddie shit. They're good fighters, as are the prelim caliber UFC guys. Perspective, children, perspective.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Yo the guys in the UFC are as good as the guys in Bellator and it is retard internet fag fan opinion to try and elevate the Bellator guys above where their resume or demonstrated fight skills otherwise proves. As if it makes yall "real fans" to inflate Bellator fighters above where they belong. That is kiddie shit. They're good fighters, as are the prelim caliber UFC guys. Perspective, children, perspective.

It's funny when things go right over your head Wolf...It really makes me laugh. The replies were not about comparing Bellator fighters to UFC fighters. They were about your complete lack of knowledge of Bellator in general...

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Yo the guys in the UFC are as good as the guys in Bellator and it is retard internet fag fan opinion to try and elevate the Bellator guys above where their resume or demonstrated fight skills otherwise proves. As if it makes yall "real fans" to inflate Bellator fighters above where they belong. That is kiddie shit. They're good fighters, as are the prelim caliber UFC guys. Perspective, children, perspective.

Says the "fan" that doesn't even watch the sport. I guess the people writing the summaries for the UFC fights are doing a better job then the guys for Bellator.

Ive watched the last two MW tournaments. These dudes are not better than the average UFC MW. They just aren't. You saying they are doesn't make it so.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Ive watched the last two MW tournaments. These dudes are not better than the average UFC MW. They just aren't. You saying they are doesn't make it so.

If I remember correctly Falco was good enough to get into the UFC and win his fight when he got there. But legal problems forced him out of the UFC. Zuffa saw the potential, but a washed up use to be fan doesn't see it?

Yea falco proves my point. He was your average UFC MW caliber fighter, and runs through a Bellator tournament. Almost all tournament Bellator fighters are good enough to be prelim UFC fighters and almost all UFC prelim fighters are good enough to be Bellator finalists. My point is the Bellator set isn't significantly better than your average facebook/fuel UFC fighter. Is that a bad thing? Does that make Bellator suck or something? No. It just is what it is dude.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Yea falco proves my point. He was your average UFC MW caliber fighter, and runs through a Bellator tournament. Almost all tournament Bellator fighters are good enough to be prelim UFC fighters and almost all UFC prelim fighters are good enough to be Bellator finalists. My point is the Bellator set isn't significantly better than your average facebook/fuel UFC fighter. Is that a bad thing? Does that make Bellator suck or something? No. It just is what it is dude.

Please just stop....ran through the tournment? I highly doubt you even watched a fight on Bellator this season Wolf. Falcao looked terrible against Norman Paraisy and Slav was robbed...Yet Falcao was still good enough to dominate Gerald Harris who prior to facing Falcao was 3-0 in the UFC.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Yea falco proves my point. He was your average UFC MW caliber fighter, and runs through a Bellator tournament. Almost all tournament Bellator fighters are good enough to be prelim UFC fighters and almost all UFC prelim fighters are good enough to be Bellator finalists. My point is the Bellator set isn't significantly better than your average facebook/fuel UFC fighter. Is that a bad thing? Does that make Bellator suck or something? No. It just is what it is dude.

Falco was in some tough fights, I thought you watched the tourney? He could have easily lost his last fight. Falco was 1-0 in the UFC and I was pretty confident he was going to beat Sakura or Lawlor before those bouts got cancelled. You probably didn't even see Falco's lone fight in the UFC. Just read about it somewhere. You are pretending to be neutral but the letters on the gloves mean alot more to you then most.

Ninja wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Yea falco proves my point. He was your average UFC MW caliber fighter, and runs through a Bellator tournament. Almost all tournament Bellator fighters are good enough to be prelim UFC fighters and almost all UFC prelim fighters are good enough to be Bellator finalists. My point is the Bellator set isn't significantly better than your average facebook/fuel UFC fighter. Is that a bad thing? Does that make Bellator suck or something? No. It just is what it is dude.

Please just stop....ran through tournment? I highly doubt you even watched a fight on Bellator this season Wolf. Falcao looked terrible against Norman Paraisy and Slav was robbed...Yet Falcao was still good enough to dominate Gerald Harris who prior to facing Falcao was 3-0 in the UFC.

You beat me to it. Two things were obvious in Wolf's post. He didn't see the current MW tourney and he didn't see Falco in the UFC. But you pointed out both, nice work.

You guys aren't saying shit. My point is only that Bellator fighters are as good as UFC fighters and vice versa...what is this glove letter talk? Why are Bellator fighters better than average UFC fighters? State an argument or step off. Wouldn't that be a good thing for Bellator if their fighters were as good as average UFC fighters? Why the need to prop up guys better than they are? Just watch the fights and judge fighters accurately durds...

Wolfgangsta wrote:

You guys aren't saying shit. My point is only that Bellator fighters are as good as UFC fighters and vice versa...what is this glove letter talk? Why are Bellator fighters better than average UFC fighters? State an argument or step off. Wouldn't that be a good thing for Bellator if their fighters were as good as average UFC fighters? Why the need to prop up guys better than they are? Just watch the fights and judge fighters accurately durds...

That is exactly what WE do. WE WATCH fights. We use what we see. We don't just look at results and read up on a few details and pretend we know how good they are. But if that works for you...

Why are Bellator fighters so much better? Why is it a knock to say these guys are as good as average UFC fighters?

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Why are Bellator fighters so much better? Why is it a knock to say these guys are as good as average UFC fighters?

You said any 3rd tier UFC fighter was better then whoever the next Bellator MW Champion is. How many tiers does the UFC MW division have? That is a direct knock on Bellator's level of fighters. You said yesterday that Hector would struggle with middle of the pack UFC fighters. Why? Because more people know their names? Because people that pay attention to the fights themselves strongly disagree with that.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

You guys aren't saying shit. My point is only that Bellator fighters are as good as UFC fighters and vice versa...what is this glove letter talk? Why are Bellator fighters better than average UFC fighters? State an argument or step off. Wouldn't that be a good thing for Bellator if their fighters were as good as average UFC fighters? Why the need to prop up guys better than they are? Just watch the fights and judge fighters accurately durds...

I am not saying all of Bellator fighters are elite, but most of their champions and top level guys are.

Dantas, Curran, Conrad, Chandler, and Askren would be fighting for belts if they were in the UFC.(google them if you don't who they are Wolf)

Lima, Slav, Falcao, Galvo, Makovsky, Fiere, Hawn would be fringe top 10 fighters in their repected divisons.

I know you are shocked Bellator has this talent Wolf, but here is why:

1. They pay upcoming fighters better money then the UFC does. Why start out in the UFC at 15,000 fighting on facebook when you could go to Bellator be guarrented 30,000 every fight you win and have a chance to win 100,000 and potenial a shot at the belt.

2. The tournment system helps groom fighters quicker and better than if you were to fight in the UFC. More fights=more experience=more growth=more exposure

OU wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Why are Bellator fighters so much better? Why is it a knock to say these guys are as good as average UFC fighters?

You said any 3rd tier UFC fighter was better then whoever the next Bellator MW Champion is. How many tiers does the UFC MW division have? That is a direct knock on Bellator's level of fighters. You said yesterday that Hector would struggle with middle of the pack UFC fighters. Why? Because more people know their names? Because people that pay attention to the fights themselves strongly disagree with that.

Lombard struggling I said has to do with the very real trend over the last 5 years or however long of big names coming into the UFC and struggling in their first fights against guys they'd by rights smash otherwise. I donno why it happens, but it does.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Nick Ring or any UFC third stringer MW is as good as the guy fighting Shlemenko

I said any third stringer is as good. The Bellator guys are as good as the lower level UFC guys. This is hardly a knock on Bellator as it only means "Bellator guys are as good as UFC guys". I think you got shit twisted homie.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Nick Ring or any UFC third stringer MW is as good as the guy fighting Shlemenko

I said any third stringer is as good. The Bellator guys are as good as the lower level UFC guys. This is hardly a knock on Bellator as it only means "Bellator guys are as good as UFC guys". I think you got shit twisted homie.

If that even remotely resembles a compliment to Bellator in your eyes, don't know what to tell you.