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Alexander Shlemenko vs. Anatoly Tokov set for Bellator 208 in New York

Bellator’s return to New York next month has another fight set for the main card.

Former middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko (56-11 MMA, 12-4 BMMA) will take on Anatoly Tokov (26-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) at Bellator 208. A promotion official today confirmed the booking to MMAjunkie following an initial report from FloCombat.com.

Bellator 208 takes place Oct. 13 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., on Long Island. The main card airs on Paramount and streams on DAZN following prelims on MMAjunkie.

Shlemenko has toggled back and forth between Bellator and M-1 Challenge over the past several years. He won Bellator’s middleweight title in February 2013 and defended it against Brett Cooper, Doug Marshall and Brennan Ward. After a submission loss to Tito Ortiz in a light heavyweight fight at Bellator 120, the promotion’s first pay-per-view, he lost his belt in just 35 seconds to Brandon Halsey at Bellator 126.

But the Russian rebounded and won six straight fights, though just one was under the Bellator banner (not counting a no-contest against Melvin Manhoef when Shlemenko tested positive for steroids). Eleven months ago, Shlemenko lost a unanimous decision to Gegard Mousasi at Bellator 185. And in June, he was knocked out by Bruno Silva at an M-1 Challenge event to give him a two-fight skid.

Tokov is going in the opposite direction. After a majority decision loss to current UFC fighter Ramazan Emeev at M-1 Challenge 73, Tokov made his promotional debut at Bellator 172 and stopped Francisco France with a second-round TKO in February 2017. After a lengthy layoff due to an ACL tear, Tokov returned in May and submitted Vladimir Filipovic in just 56 seconds at Bellator 200 in London.

With the addition to the card, the Bellator 208 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (Paramount, 9 p.m. ET)

  • Fedor Emelianenko vs. Chael Sonnen – heavyweight grand prix semifinal
  • Saad Awad vs. Benson Henderson
  • Timothy Johnson vs. Cheick Kongo
  • Alexander Shlemenko vs. Anatoly Tokov

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMAjunkie, 7 p.m. ET)

  • Suhrob Aidarbekov vs. Tommy Espinosa
  • Frank Buenafuente vs. James Gonzalez
  • Eric Olsen vs. Jeremy Puglia
  • Mike DiOrio vs. Andrews Rodriguez
  • Dennis Buzukja vs. Ryan Castro
  • Zarrukh Adashev vs. Christian Medina
  • Nick Fiore vs. Jerome Mickle
  • Robson Gracie Jr. vs. Peter Nascimento

For more on Bellator 208, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.

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