In 2016, after an epic two-match confrontation with Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, which will forever be inscribed in gold letters in the TOP of the best duels in Russian mixed martial arts, Alexander Shlemenko returned to Bellator and destroyed Kendal Grove.
The question of a superfight for Storm in Russia in the spring of 2017 came to its full height and there was a battle with Ramazan Emeyev in development, which was prevented by the latter's injury. Work was carried out to organize a rematch with Brandon Halsey, but the American fighter said that he would not be able to fit into the middle weight category with a serious excess of several kilograms and the long-awaited revenge was impossible. After that, the matchmakers of M-1 Global held negotiations with a number of the strongest middleweights, free from contractual obligations with major promotions, and the choice was made in favor of the most worthy and deserved fighter.
This is Ring of Combat champion Paul Bradley, nicknamed The Gentleman, who has 23 wins in 30 fights, experience in the UFC and Strikeforce, and an impressive Bellator winning list. During his college years, Paul was one of the four best weight fighters in the United States. "Gentleman" was distinguished by tremendous physical strength, tremendous reinforced concrete stamina and the ability to fight equally successfully both in the standing position and in the stalls. Behind him was a huge experience of performing in the world's strongest promotions against top athletes and all this made Paul Bradley a very serious opponent even for such a star fighter as Alexander Shlemenko and very similar to his nemesis - Brandon Halsey, who was only one step away from revenge.