On Friday, Sept. 26, Bellator MMA hosted its 126th event from the Grand Canyon University Arena in Phoenix.
In the night’s main event, the promotion’s middleweight title was on the line as champion Alexander Shlemenko locked horns with tournament winner Brandon Halsey. The Russian Shlemenko saw his 13-fight winning streak come to a crashing halt in May when he moved up in weight to challenge former UFC champion Tito Ortiz. The 30-year-old was seeking his fourth title defense. Halsey, meanwhile, moved his record to 7-0 in July with a first-round submission of former title challenger Brett Cooper.
The main card also featured a lightweight tournament final between Polish submission specialist Marcin Held and explosive Brazilian Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. The 22-year-old Held rode a four-fight winning streak and had won nine of his last 10 fights. Six of those wins had come via tapout. Freire had rebounded from a three-fight skid to earn three straight wins, including two via strikes. He had earned knockouts in nine of his 13 wins.
The 11-fight event kicked off with a live stream of the preliminary card on Spike.com beginning at 6 p.m. ET. The four-fight main card aired live on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET.
For the full results and recap of the event, click here.
Above are video highlights of the main card, including the Halsey vs. Shlemenko title tilt (courtesy of Bellator MMA).
Marcin Held vs. Patricky Freire – lightweight tournament final
Bubba Jenkins vs. Thiago Meller
Mike Richman vs. Ed West
LaRue Burley vs. Raymond Pina
Clifford Starks vs. Jacob Ortiz
Nick Rossborough vs. Ryan Martinez
Joe Taimanglo vs. Michael Parker
Dan Charles vs. Stuart Austin
Derek Campos vs. Estevan Payan
Brandon Girtz vs. Benny Madrid