Liveblog: Bellator 44 Part 3

The live MTV2 broadcast is underway, and the first bout is Alexander Shlemenko against Brett Cooper. This is a qualifier bout for the next middleweight tournament - which sucks for Shlemenko, considering he won the last one. Why should he have to qualify? Anyway, it's a well-known fact that the Russian gets paid by the spinning technique, and in Round 1 he racks up about 1,800 bucks wobbling the American. Cooper wobbles him back, though, and bloodies him, too. Round 2 has Cooper trying to add some wrestling into the equation, but Shlemenko is nonplussed. The final round is a complete slobberknocker, with both men eating so much leather they're guaranteed to be crapping whole cows tomorrow. The crowd loves it - as they should - and the judges award the unanimous decision to Shlemenko. Next up: local hero Sammy Oropeza against Giedrius Karavackas. Oropeza's striking - his kicking, especially - is top notch, and he flexes that muscle early on. The round ends with him on top, dropping bombs. Karavackas isn't a pushover, and he comes back hard in the second round, judo-ing Oropeza and dishing some of that fistic love back. Round 3 is all Karavackas, as he throws Oropeza down, pins with a kasagatame, punches him unabashedly, and taps him at 3:59 of the round with a bent armlock (the kind where you use only your legs). It is the most epic of comebacks, and the Sammy Oropeza Fan Club is crushed.