It’ll be a battle of former Bellator middleweight champions at M-1 Challenge 79 on June 1st in St. Petersburg, Russia, as Alexander Shlemenko takes on Brandon Halsey in a rematch of their 2014 showdown, which saw Halsey beat Shlemenko to win the Bellator crown. Unlike Halsey, Shlemenko is still under Bellator MMA contract.
Shlemenko (54-9, 1 NC) is on a four-fight winning streak, with three of them coming under the M-1 banner. The 32-year-old Russian twice defeated Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, knocked out Kendall Grove in the Bellator 162 main event, then bested Paul Bradley by unanimous decision at M-1 Challenge 75.