Bellator XX Preview

Tonight is the semi-finals for the middleweight tournament as Bryan Baker fights Eric Schambari and Alexander Shlemenko takes on season 1 runner up Jared Hess. 

Middleweight Tournament: Second Round

Bryan Baker: (-220 to -275) vs. Eric Schambari: (+205 to +180)

This is a rematch from WEC 31 where Bryan Baker handed Eric Schambari his only loss of his career via a split decision.  However, that was three years ago and a lot has changed since then.  It was also Schambari's last fight before his year and a half hiatus from the sport due to injuries and infections (ouch).  This is the fight Schambari asked for, but who has improved more.

Unfortunately for Eric, Baker has made more improvements since their first fight and has not missed so much time due to injuries.  Baker possesses serious power in his fists, but he is still raw and definitely has holes when standing.  Although I doubt Schambari has the power standing to capitalize on that.  Schambari is primarily a grappler and the mat is where he wants needs the fight to head.  However, Baker is former star high school wrestler and Judo Black Belt so that is not an easy task by any means.

Schambari's defense and chin are where his biggest advantage lies.  Baker could easily get frustrated standing and move the fight to the mat.  He may also leave himself open for takedowns by throwing wild strikes.  Despite a difficult task it is not out of this world to see Eric get the fight to the mat.  If he does he needs to use Baker's aggressive style to his advantage and look for submissions (top or bottom).  The odds are pretty spot on for this one and I would stay away from it if you are a betting man or woman.

Jared Hess: (-450 to -590) vs. Alexander Shlemenko: (+425 to +300)
Shlemenko is fun to watch and literally gassed throwing so many spinning back fists in his first Bellator fight.  It was good for him that Matt Major looked ridiculously awful (fighting and his shorts) and refused to show effort, defense, or attempt takedowns.  Jared Hess will not make that same mistake.  Shlemenko is exciting and can easily knock out Hess, but it is just not going to happen.

The second this fight heads to the mat, which will not be hard for Hess, it should be over.  My only problem is that I think Hess is going to win the tournament this year and we will have a repeat of last year's finals fight when he eventually takes on Hector Lombard.  His style is just not set up well against Lombard and he appears to be on a futile path.

Shlemenko is going to throw and throw like crazy, but I doubt he lands solid enough.  His best bets are not the spinning back fists, but his knees.  If he can land some early knees to Hess's body he might be able to control the fight by gassing Hess early on.  Odds wise I would stay away from Hess.  Minus 450 is simply too much to lay money on and Alexander has the ability to end a fight quickly.  If anything I would take Shlemenko at +425, but overall stay away from the betting on this card.

SBN coverage of Bellator XX