Alexander Shlemenko to appeal Bellator 185 loss vs. Gegard Mousasi

Former Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko plans to appeal his close unanimous decision loss to Gegard Mousasi.

Alexander Shlemenko badly damaged the right eye of Gegard Mousasi in the opening round of last Friday’s Bellator 185 main event, but was unable to come away with the upset win on the judges’ scorecards. Doug Crosby, Derek Cleary, and John English all had it 29-28 in favor of Mousasi, as many fans at the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino booed the official decision.

According to Shlemenko’s manager, Alexey Zhernakov, the former Bellator middleweight champion will appeal the decision and wants the fight either re-scored or overturned to a no-contest. As he told MMAjunkie, the point of contention is the closely contested second round.

“Round No. 3, he won with probably a 10-8, because it was judged by the recent changes in the rules,” Zhernakov said. “But Round No. 2 is what we’re talking about. According to statistics, he won the second round, because for three-and-a-half minutes, he was dominating. And by dominating, he was landing significant shots. The damage was on his side.”

It’s difficult enough to overturn a decision into a no-contest for far more controversial fights than Shlemenko vs. Mousasi, and it appears as if Shlemenko may be engaging in a truly pointless endeavor. Mike Mazzulli, whose commission regulated Bellator 185, says that “there is nothing in my rules or regulations that would require or allow the decision to be appealed.”