Alexander Pavlovich Shelemnko is a Russian mixed martial artist currently fighting in the middleweight division for Bellator Fighting Championships. Alexander is an expert in hand-to-hand combat & traditional kickboxing. He trains at the Saturn Profi (RusFighters) sports club in Omsk, Russia, and holds a degree in Physical Culture (specialization - Combat Sports Trainer) at the Omsk State University.

As a teenager, Alexander did skiing and Greco-Roman wrestling. At the age of 15, Shlemenko seriously started to train ARB, which is the Russian abbreviation for "army hand-to-hand combat". He competed in many regional and national tournaments in ARB, and got to the highest sport level by reaching the title of "master of sports". After watching a professional pankration tournament, Shlemenko immediately wanted to try it out. Shortly after that, he made his professional MMA debut in 2004 at the age of 20 in his hometown Omsk, winning by TKO.

During the early stage of his professional MMA career, Shlemenko competed in the IAFC (International Absolute Fighting Council). Sometimes fighting multiple times per night, Alexander won most of them by knockout, which can be seen in his record. In May 2005, after only one year of his professional MMA career, Shlemenko had an impressive 15-2 record, and was gaining more and more attention by the Russian fans and the media.

Shlemenko, after signing with Bellator, quickly made a splash, winning the Bellator Season 2 Middleweight Tournament earning a title shot against Bellator Middleweight Champion, Hector Lombard, which he lost by unanimous decision.

After a first round KO win outside the Bellator promotion, Shlemenko rebounded with four straight victories against Bellator opponents in Brett Cooper, Zelg Galesic, Brian Rogers and Vitor Vianna in the Season 5 Bellator Middleweight Tournament. After Hector Lombard signed a contract with the UFC, it was decided that Shlemenko would fight Season 6 Middleweight Tournament winner, Maiquel Falcao for the Bellator Middleweight Championship.

On February 7, 2013 at Bellator 88 Shlemenko won the title by knocking out Falcao in the second round. After arguably losing the first, Shlemenko came out in the second and hurt Falcao with body shots, eventually dropping him. Shlemenko finished him off with ground-and-pound, putting him unconscious and forcing the ref to stop the fight.