Bellator Milan: Edwards vs. Van Steenis takes place on Saturday, September 26 at Allianz Cloud in Milan, Italy. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the event, and MMAOB staff writer Adam Martin takes a look at the opening odds below.
Bellator Milan Odds
Fabian Edwards -125
Costello Van Steenis +105
Mike Shipman -175
Pietro Penini +150
Will Fleury -150
Kent Kauppinen +130
Here are my initial thoughts on the Opening Odds For Bellator Milan:
- Bellator returns to Italy for another event with this Euro Series event featuring a number of Europe’s top MMA fighters. In the main event, a pair of top middleweights in Bellator go at it as Edwards takes on Van Steenis. Edwards, the brother of UFC welterweight star Leon Edwards, is already a perfect 9-0 since starting his MMA career in 2017. Bellator actually signed Edwards as an amateur, so credit to its scouting staff for getting him signed. Since starting his pro career, Edwards is 5-0 in Bellator and 4-0 in BAMMA. In Bellator, he has won his last four fights in a row including a ridiculous upkick KO over Falco Neto in 2019. Edwards looks like a future Bellator middleweight champion but before he gets to the top of the division he needs to beat Van Steeenis, and it won’t be easy. Van Steenis is 12-2 in his MMA career including a 4-1 mark in Bellator. Although he did lose to top contender John Salter in his last outing, Van Steenis is still a top middleweight and at age 28 he could still improve. While I do favor Edwards to win this fight, Van Steenis certainly has the tools to pull off the small upset.
- Another intriguing fight on this card sees middleweights Shipman and Penini fight. Shipman is 4-2 overall in Bellator but is coming off of back-to-back losses to the aforementioned Edwards and Penini. He has holes in his game but is still a very dangerous fighter as evidenced by his 13-3 record. He takes on Penini here, who is a top middleweight prospect out of Italy. Penini is coming off of a win over Charlie Ward in his Bellator debut and overall has a 9-1-1 record in his MMA career. He is a Venator FC veteran who has won his last three fights in a row. Shipman is more experienced against higher-level competition but Penini is a pretty good prospect and should put up a decent fight. Still, I agree Shipman deserved his favorite status.
