Bellator 23 features two championship matches one at featherweight and one a middleweight with the winner picking up healthy $100,000 bonus.
Patricio Freire and Joe Warren square off with the Bellator featherweight championship on the line and a shot at Joe Soto’s featherweight belt.
Friere comes in to this fight as the -160 Bellator 23 odds favorite while Warren pays +130.
Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (14-0 MMA, 2-0 BFC) has two North American fights with Strikeforce after going undefeated in a number of smaller Brazilian promotions. He practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and also trained in Muay Thai with the Chute Boxe Academy before joining Team Nogueira. As with any Thai Kickboxing practitioner, he is a knockout threat, but most of his wins come by submission and he is most dangerous on the mat.
Joe Warren (4-1 MMA, 2-0 BFC) has a solid foundation in Greco-Roman wrestling and trains with another Greco-Roman wrestling to MMA convert Dan Henderson of Team Quest. Warren’s lone loss came via submission to a BJJ practitioner.
The middleweight championship bout features Bryan Baker taking on Alexander Shlemenko. The winner faces last season’s champion Hector Lombard for the Bellator middleweight belt.
Baker is the heavy favorite in this one listed at -450 while Shlemenko is +300.
Bryan “The Beast” Baker (13-1 MMA, 3-0 BFC) has a background in wrestling and judo and now trains with Team Wildman in Denver. Despite a background that would suggest that he would be a primarily a submission threat, The Beast is a deadly striker with six victories coming by KO. His lone loss came to UFC middleweight title contender Chael Sonnen.
Alexander Shlemenko (29-4 MMA, 2-0 BFC) is primarily a striker with some spectacular knockouts at smaller European events, but he hasn’t shown it in North America winning his first fight with Matt Major by decision and then beating Jared Hess when a knee injury forced him to withdraw.
