Bellator London takes place Saturday, November 23 at The SSE Arena in London, England. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the main card, and here they are.
Bellator London Opening Odds
Michael Page -1050
Giovanni Melillo +550
Fabian Edwards -300
Mike Shipman +220
Soren Bak -290
Terry Brazier +210
And here are my initial thoughts on the Bellator London Opening Odds:
- Keep in mind that for the welterweight main event, Page was originally set to fight Derek Anderson in what would have been a much more competitive bout. Anderson pulled out with an injury and on short notice steps in Melillo in his Bellator debut. Although Page was knocked out in devastating fashion by Douglas Lima in his last outing, you can’t forget he was undefeated before that, and losing to Lima isn’t the end of the world. Page is still an incredible striker with pin-point precision and huge KO power and is still someone who Bellator can market when they hold these European fight cards. You have to give credit to Melillo for stepping in on short notice in such a bad situation, but he’s walking into the lion’s den here. Melillo is coming off a nice win over UFC veteran Will Chope and he has fought for promotions like ACB and Venator, but Page is a huge step up in competition. Look for Page to toy with Melillo en route to another highlight-reel knockout win.
- Maybe the best fight on the card is a featured middleweight bout between Edwards and Shipman. Edwards, the brother of UFC welterweight star Leon Edwards, has looked incredible so far in his MMA career with a perfect 8-0 record, including a 4-0 mark in Bellator with a rare upkick KO. He takes on Shipman here, who is another top middleweight prospect for Bellator. Shipman is coming off of a TKO loss to Costello Van Steenis, but you can’t forget the 13-fight win streak he had going for him prior to that. Shipman is a big step up in competition for Edwards, but that being said I still believe Edwards is the far superior fighter and I am picking him to win this fight.
- And finally, we have an intriguing lightweight bout between Bak and Brazier. Bak was the Cage Warriors lightweight champion and has a big win on his record over European star Paddy Pimblett. He is currently riding a five-fight win streak heading into this bout and enters Bellator with plenty of fanfare. He takes on Brazier here, who is the former BAMMA lightweight champion. Brazier had a shocking upset loss to Chris Bungard in his UFC debut but he bounced back with a nice submission win in his last outing. He is still one of the top prospects in Bellator’s lightweight division, though the matchmakers clearly aren’t giving him a break by matching him up against a fellow stud prospect like Bak in this fight. You have to favor Bak to win this matchup based on all the momentum he has entering into his Bellator debut.
