Bellator 22 decided the Featherweight, Welterweight and Middleweight tournament champions in what would have to be considered a success for the Bellator promotion as all three fights were entertaining.

Ben Askren scored a very convincing victory over Dan Hornbuckle to take the Bellator Welterweight Tournament Championship. He controlled the fight for most of the time. The victory was a bit of an upset, but Askren showed a tremendous improvement in his ground game and showed that he is a fighter to watch going forward.

Joe Warren took the Bellator Featherweight Tournament Championship in a split decision against Patricio Freire. Warren clearly lost the first round, but it looked like Freire figured that the first round would be enough for him to win as he was a lot less aggressive in the last two rounds and lost because of it.

Alexander Shlemenko secured the Bellator Middleweight Tournament Championship with a TKO victory over Bryan Baker. Shlemenko looked clearly in control for most of the fight as the two fighters kept the fight on their feet.

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.