Bellator 230 takes place Saturday, October 12 at Ex Palalido (Allianz Cloud) in Milan, Italy. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the main card, and here they are.
Bellator 230 Opening Odds
Melvin Manhoef -260
Yannick Bahati +180
Alessio Sakara -600
Canaan Grigsby +400
Ashley Reece -244
Stefano Paterno +195
Rafael Macedo -313
Kane Mousah +235
Nicolo Solli -500
Daniel Cassell +360
Vadim Nemkov -270
Rafael Carvalho +215
And here are my initial thoughts on the Bellator 230 Opening Odds:
- The main event is a light heavyweight bout between the long-time MMA veteran Manhoef and the less known Bahati. Manhoef is 43-years-old now but the Dutchman is somehow still winning fights. In his last outing, he defeated Kent Kauppinen by decision to snap a two-fight losing streak to Rafael Carvalho. Prior to the Kauppinen win, Manhoef’s last win came in 2015 to Hisaki Kato. Overall, Manhoef has a 3-3, 1 NC record in Bellator. As for Bahati, he’s fought once in Bellator, defeating Amir Dadovic by decision in his last outing earlier this year. That win snapped a three-fight losing skid for the 29-year-old Brit. He is a veteran of the European and African regional scene, with experience fighting for BAMMA, KSW and EFC Africa. However, he has not achieved nearly the success in MMA that Manhoef has. Then again, Manhoef is getting up there in age and his chin will give out at some point. I lean towards Manhoef to get the win, but it’s likely a dog-or-pass situation at these odds.
- In another light heavyweight bout, Sakara meets Grigsby. The 38-year-old Sakara has had a bit of resurgence in Bellator, going 3-2 overall in the promotion. However, he’s coming off of a KO loss to Kent Kauppinen which showed his biggest flaw, and that’s his chin. Sakara still has KO power himself and has plenty of experience, but he can’t take a punch. As for Grigsby, he’s making his Bellator debut having lost three of his last four fights. He has no notable victories during his MMA career, but has lost to some solid competition in Rafael Lovato Jr., Ian Heinisch and Brian Rogers, to name a few. Once again it’s a situation where Sakara should be favored based on his experience and the fact he’s fighting in his home country of Italy. But with the state of his chin, it’s hard to lay that kind of heavy juice on him. It might be a dog-or-pass situation at these odds.
- UPDATE: A few more odds were released early Saturday morning for some of the lesser-known fights on the cards.
