With a brutal liver shot KO of Doug Marshall in the main event of Bellator 109 to defend the Bellator middleweight championship, I feel as though Alexander Shlemenko cemented his status as the most underrated middleweight fighter in mixed martial arts. When the list of the top 185ers in the sport is brought up, it’s almost always exclusively UFC fighters that are mentioned, and for good reason. After all, the very best fighters in the world definitely fight in the UFC, and if you aren’t consistently fighting the best fighters in the world, then it’s hard to enter the conversation of best middleweight fighter in the world. But even thought you can’t be called the best middleweight fighter in the world, you can be called the most underrated middleweight fighter in the world, and in my opinion right now that is Alexander Shlemenko. Here are the facts:
- Look at this guy’s record: 49-7, with 29 of those wins coming by knockout and seven by submission. And in 56 professional fights, Shlemenko has only been stopped three times, once by KO and twice by sub. To my knowledge, there is no middleweight on the UFC roster who has even close to as many pro MMA wins as Shlemenko does.
- Shlemenko is currently riding a 12-fight win streak, which includes seven wins by stoppage. That is three years of being undefeated despite fighting a number of high-level opponents.
- He has a 10-1 record in Bellator. For comparison’s sake, Hector Lombard was 8-0 in Bellator before getting signed by the UFC. As well, Shlemenko has already defended the Bellator middleweight title twice, while Lombard only defended it once.
- Shlemenko has defeated the following notable opponents in mixed martial arts: Doug Marshall (KO), Maiquel Falcao (KO), Minowaman (TKO), Brian Rogers (TKO), Brett Cooper twice (UD, UD), Bryan Baker (TKO), Sean Salmon (KO), Bubba McDaniel (TKO), Julio Paulino (UD). All of those fighters except for Cooper and Rogers have competed in the UFC or WEC, by the way.
- He only has seven career losses, and four of them are credited to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Hector Lombard, and Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons, all of who have competed in the UFC or PRIDE.
- Shlemenko is only 29-years-old, and seems to be hitting his prime. While he isn’t perfect, he is a very good fighter right now and he seems to be still improving.
- He has experience fighting all around the world and for promotions such as Bellator, Elite XC, BodogFIGHT, Super Fight League, Jungle Fight, M-1 Global, and more.
I really think that based on those facts it’s fair to say Shlemenko is one of only a few of the elite middleweights in the world don’t currently have a roster spot in the UFC. The others would be Yushin Okami, who the UFC cut, and Mamed Khalidov, who seems to be enjoying making the big bucks fighting in Poland. In other words, it’s a small list. I believe Shlemenko is the most underrated middleweight fighter in all of MMA. Now, I want to know what you think. Leave a comment below and let me know, or hit me up on Twitter because I’m interested to hear what you guys/girls have to say.