Bellator 228 takes place Saturday, September 28 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the main card, and here they are.
Bellator 228 Opening Odds
Patricio Pitbull -175
Juan Archuleta +135
Gegard Mousasi -185
Lyoto Machida +145
Darrion Caldwell -175
Henry Corrales +135
Daniel Weichel -175
Saul Rogers +135
AJ McKee -475
Georgi Karakhanyan +325
And here are my initial thoughts on the Bellator 228 Opening Odds:
- Of all the MMA cards this weekend, Bellator 228 might be the best one. The main event between Pitbull (29-4) and Archuleta (23-1) for the featherweight title should be an amazing fight. Pitbull is a double champion in Bellator and has won four straight fights, including a KO over Michael Chandler his last time out. He’s arguably the greatest home-grown talent Bellator has ever produced. He now takes on Archuleta, one of the most underrated fighters in the promotion. Archuleta is on an 18-fight win streak and is 5-0 so far in Bellator. He’s looked fantastic in all of his fights, and now he gets a chance to fight for the belt. Archuleta has a good chance to win this fight, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. But I still slightly lean towards the champ in Pitbull to edge out a very close decision.
- The co-main event is an intriguing middleweight rematch between Machida (26-8) and Mousasi (45-7-2). These two previously met in 2014 in the UFC, with Machida winning a close decision. This time around, you have to lean towards Mousasi. Although he’s coming off of a majority decision loss to Rafael Lovato Jr., he had won eight straight fights before that and is clearly one of the best fighters in Bellator. As for Machida, he has won four straight fights and is looking good, but he’s also 41 and at some point will slow down. Although Machida won the first fight, I do lean towards Mousasi to win this rematch, and I think he edges out a unanimous decision.
- The three other featherweight tournament fights on this card should be a lot of fun too. In the Caldwell (12-3) vs. Corrales (17-3) fight, I actually lean towards Corrales to win the fight. Although Caldwell is a very good wrestler, he’s moving up in weight for this fight after two straight losses, while Corrales is on a four-fight win streak. Corrales has all the momentum in his favor, and I believe he wins the fight by stoppage.
- Next up we have Weichel (39-11) vs. Rogers (13-2). Weichel is one of the most experienced featherweights in Bellator while Rogers is one of the top prospects in the division. Based on his body of work, Weichel should be slightly favored. But Rogers is absolutely a live dog in this fight.
- And finally, McKee (14-0) takes on Karakhanyan (28-9-1). McKee is undefeated and looks like a future champion. He’s ran through all of his opposition to date and if he runs the table in this tournament he’ll be the champ. As for Karakhanyan, he’s a very experienced veteran and has fought in Bellator on-and-off for years. But McKee is a stud, and I think he not only wins this fight but likely advances to the tournament finals.
