The Bellator season eight lightweight tournament kicked off tonight at Bellator 87 with four quarterfinal bouts. Overall three favorites came through, while one underdog cashed. Here’s a betting recap for the event based on closing MMA odds: BELLATOR BETTING FAVORITES THAT WON In the main event of the evening, David Rickels earned a unanimous decision victory over Lloyd Woodard in what was an excellent back and forth bout. Rickels entered the bout as a -130 favorite (bet $130 to win $100) while Woodard was a +120 underdog (bet $100 to win $120). As well, Will Brooks showed why he entered his bout against Ricardo Tirloni as a big favorite as he took the veteran Brazilian down at ‘will’ and banged with him on the feet with no dilemma in order to win a clear unanimous decision. Brooks was a -191 favorite to win, while Tirloni was a +176 underdog. And Alexander “Tiger” Sarnavskiy dominated Thiago Michel en route to a second-round submission victory. Sarnavskiy was a -245 favorite to win, while Michel was the biggest underdog on the card at +225. BELLATOR BETTING UNDERDOGS THAT WON Saad Awad, who took the fight with Guillaume DeLorenzi on less than a week’s notice, was able to bull-rush and TKO his opponent with a barrage of punches in just 31 seconds into the first round to score the upset victory. Awad entered the bout as a +190 underdog, while DeLorenzi was a sizeable -210 favorite. MORE BELLAOR 87 ODDS AND ENDS Referee Dan Miragliotta had another off night, with him being involved in the centre of controversy during a few preliminary card bouts that many on Twitter felt were early stoppages. As well, the Michigan judges were said to have robbed Nick Kirk in the evening’s preliminary matchup, but thankfully for bettors there was no line for the fight so no one was burned.
