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UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Gegard Mousasi was hoping to make a massive statement in his Bellator debut. He got the win over Alexander Shlemenko in Friday’s Bellator 185 headliner, but it came by the skin of his teeth.

Mousasi (43-6-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) edged former Bellator middleweight champion Shlemenko (56-10 MMA, 12-4 BMMA) by unanimous decision in the Spike-televised main event at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. He was forced to overcome a busted eye for all but the first few minutes of the bout, hindering his ability to inflict his full offensive arsenal.

“The Dreamcatcher” came into the organization as a high-profile free agent signing, joining multiple other notables who have jumped over from the UFC in recent years. There’s a growing trend of those crossovers struggling in the Bellator cage, and company President Scott Coker said it’s a familiar situation.

“Here’s how I feel about it: When I owned Strikeforce and we were doing fights back in the day, we had some of the best fighters on the planet, and it was like, ‘Well, the UFC guys are better than the Strikeforce guys,’” Coker told MMAjunkie at Bellator 185’s post-fight news conference. “Then look what happened. Tyron Woodley, Luke Rockhold, Daniel Cormier – those are all (Strikeforce) guys. It’s just that people when they come over here feel it should be easy, but Shlemenko is a guy that had 55, 60 fights. That’s going to be a guy that’s dangerous.

“To me, I think the people that have come over here from other leagues, they’ve had a hard time. I just say, ‘Hey, welcome to Bellator. This is going to be a tough going for everybody.’”

Coker wouldn’t give a decisive opinion on the decision of the Bellator 185 main event. He said he was “watching as a fan,” but admitted the judging likely came down to a very competitive second round, which all three judges scored in Mousasi’s favor.

Regardless of the result, Coker praised Mousasi’s resiliency in the contest. The former Strikeforce titleholder and No. 6 fighter in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings, suffered a badly damaged eye early in the contest, but gutted out all 15 minutes.

“Gegard is a tough guy,” Coker said. “He has a lot of perseverance. He has indomitable spirit. He will come back from this. I know that he’s a little bit disappointed with his performance, but to me, I thought that this fight was going to be a tough, tough fight for him. It was, so on to the next one.”

Coker couldn’t give an immediate update on the condition of Mousasi’s eye, but said he fears a potentially fractured orbital bone. That could thwart the organization’s plans to have Mousasi challenge the winner of Bellator 190 title fight between 185-pound champ Rafael Carvalho (14-1 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) and challenger Alessio Sakara (19-11 MMA, 2-0 BMMA), but Coker said he will wait for a formal doctor’s opinion before making any decisions.

“He might have an orbital fracture,” Coker said. “If he does he’s going to be out for six to eight months, maybe a year. Who knows? That’s why we always have to come back and see how the fights unfold, see how the fights do and then we’ll reshuffle the deck. That’s what we’ll do here. We’ll see what the doctors say about his eye and then we’ll make a decision at that point.”

For complete coverage of Bellator 185, check out the MMA Events section of the site.

Filed under: Bellator, Featured, News, Videos