Bellator 54 Fight Card: 5 Things You Need to Know About Saturday's Card

Bellator Fighting Championships prides itself on being an organization where title shots are earned and not handed out. This Saturday's Bellator 54 card is no different.

Alexander Shlemenko hopes to earn his rematch with Hector Lombard, current Bellator middleweight "Iron Fist," for lack of a sugar coated label like "champion." But his road runs through Brian Rogers, who is looking to make his own waves in the 185-pound division.

Vitor Vianna hopes to make his own waves as well, but like Rogers, the Wand Fight Team warrior is staring down a Season Two finalist also, and former WEC middleweight Bryan "The Beast" Baker has no plans on laying down for one of UFC 139 co-headliner Wanderlei Silva's young proteges.

In addition to the Bellator Season Five Middleweight Semifinals, Bellator bantamweight kingpin Zack Makovsky will rest easy knowing Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren will be nowhere near his peripheral vision in the title picture.

But his own status as top bantamweight material is on the line as veteran Ryan Roberts looks to break through at the expense of a current Bellator World Champion.

Live on MTV2 and Epix in HD, Bellator 54 comes at you this Saturday. For anyone who needs their void filled until UFC 137 in two weeks, here's what you all need to know about Saturday's card.

Rene Nazare Is Back, and He's Collecting More Body Parts

The last man to beat Luiz Azeredo, Rene Nazare is arguably one of the hottest prospects in the sport right now. With eight forms of finishes and two decisions in an unblemished 10-fight career, the man has a bright future.

It's a bit early to tell if the man has "pound-for-pound king" or "Bellator's next lightweight champion" written anywhere on him before we get to see him in a Bellator Lightweight Tournament. But the 28-year-old has plenty of time to make his name famous in the promotion.

Already on a 3-0 tear in Bellator, Nazare hopes to go 4-0 in the BFC—giving fans a reason to think he has a shot to beat Eddie Alvarez somewhere down the line—when he steps to Jacob Kirwan. Kirwan's most recent five-fight stretch holds blemishes to Marcos Galvao and Jim Hettes.

Daniel Gracie and Tim Carpenter Are Back

They are not fighting each other, and if you must know anything about the preliminaries, you'll have to know that Gracie is actually fighting at 185 for this bout. Although, he does share the upper portion of the Bellator 54 prelims with Tim Carpenter.

Gracie got the worse end of a split decision loss to Carpenter and faces 3-1 Pennsylvanian prospect Duane Bastress.

Meanwhile, Carpenter hopes to push aside his loss in the semifinals of season four's Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament to current titlist Christian M'Pumbu in a bout against 7-3-1 Cortland, N.Y. native Ryan Contaldi.

Both guys want to rebound from losses, but while their lesser-known foes may not have many people betting on them, neither Contaldi nor Bastress are cake walks for Gracie or Carpenter.

If the two lesser-knowns are defeated in less than the first five or 10 minutes, Gracie and Carpenter may make it look easy. But they can rest assured that the actual task will be anything but easy.

Zack Makovsky Is Back and He Is Bringing a Fun-Sized Fight to Ryan Roberts

Zack Makovsky is back once again, folks, and the "Fun Size" Bellator bantamweight champion has his work cut out for him against one time UFC veteran Ryan Roberts, who stands at 16-9-1 professionally.

The 13-2 titleholder is known for his fast-action wrestling and a strong submission game, but a TKO of Chad Robichaux showed that Makovsky can finish without having to find a tap.

"Are You Ready?" Roberts had better prepare for a Zack Makovsky that will finish Roberts no matter where the fight goes. The Bellator bantamweight champion will test Roberts' nickname, deciding if Roberts is ready to finally tango with the titans.

On Paper, the Plan Is for Bryan Baker vs. Alexander Shlemenko II, Right?

Wrong, because if you're not a UFC Champion, Chael Sonnen or anyone gunning for a Zuffa World Champion, things don't always go as planned.

For instance, take these semifinals.

You'd think Alexander Shlemenko vs. Bryan Baker would be a clear choice for the middleweight final this season simply because they've done it once before in season two, but that is where the problem lies.

We know that Brian "The Predator" Rogers is 8-2, with his only two losses being by unanimous decision. We also know that Vitor Vianna's only loss came by way of an arm injury against Thiago Silva.

But how do Vianna and Rogers perform when the only people betting on them to win, aside from their coaches, are themselves?

Remember, Rogers fights out of the Strong Style Fight Team with Stipe Miocic, Forrest Petz and Chris Lozano. Vianna represents Wand Fight Team and trains with Axe Murderer prodigies Jorge Lopez, Michael Costa and Demian Maia.

Considering what both Rogers and Vianna have been able to do, anyone betting Benjamins on Shlemenko vs. Baker II might want to at least place their bets on a decision or a mid-fight-to-late-fight stoppage, because both of the underdogs could very well impress come Saturday night.

It Leads into Bernard Hopkins vs Chad Dawson

Yep, it's another one of those fights.

Actually, on a night in which MMA fans will be experiencing a Saturday without UFC action—aside from perhaps an old UFC Unleashed re-run—it's not so bad that Bellator 54 runs a bit into the Hopkins/Dawson card.

Arguably one of the more underrated MMA cards of the month leads directly into a clash between an arguably overpaid yet notably skilled former light heavyweight boxing champion, "Bad" Chad Dawson and unquestionably the greatest Middleweight World Champion in the history of "The Sweet Science," the incomparable Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins.

Fight fans, get excited. This is your type of night for sure.