The Weekly Wrap: April 24 - April 30

Bellator

The Bellator Fighting Championships concluded the first rounds of its season two tournaments on April 29, as Bryan Baker, Jared Hess, Eric Schambari and Alexander Shlemenko advanced with wins on a card in Kansas City, Mo.

Baker toppled Sean Loeffler with strikes in the first round, while his opponent in the next round, Schambari, needed 3:34 to submit Luke Zachrich with an arm-triangle. Baker and Schambari meet in a middleweight rematch of a WEC clash on May 27.

Hess, last year’s middleweight tournament runner-up, used a guillotine to submit former IFL champion Ryan McGivern in the second round. Shlemenko, a highly-touted Siberian prospect, picked up a dominant unanimous decision over Matt Major. Shlemenko, who won his first 15 career fights, was just announced this week by Bellator as a tournament participant. Hess and Shlemenko will also face off May 20.

The first Bellator tournament final will be decided next Thursday when the promotion premieres in Boston with two semi-final fights in the lightweight tournament (Roger Huerta vs. Pat Curran, Toby Imada vs. Carey Vainer). Eddie Alvarez faces Josh Neer in a non-title superfight.