Bellator 238 takes place Saturday, January 25 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the main card, and here they are.
Bellator 238 Opening Odds
Cris Cyborg -360
Julia Budd +250
Sergio Pettis -400
Alfred Khashakyan +300
Juan Archuleta -550
Henry Corrales +400
Darrion Caldwell -215
Adam Borics +175
And here are my initial thoughts on the Bellator 238 Opening Odds:
- The main event between Cyborg and Budd for the Bellator women’s featherweight title could be one of the best women’s MMA fights of all time. This will mark Cyborg’s Bellator debut after a successful stint in the UFC where she went 6-1 overall. In Cyborg’s last UFC bout, she defeated Felicia Spencer in a dominant fashion. That was enough for Bellator president Scott Coker to give her an immediate title shot against Budd, who is a perfect 7-0 so far in Bellator. Budd is one of the most underrated women’s fighters in the sport, but unfortunately for her Cyborg is still at the top of her game. Aside from the loss to Amanda Nunes, Cyborg hasn’t broken a sweat against anyone else in 15 years. Budd should be more competitive than some of Cyborg’s other opponents, but ultimately I see Cyborg getting the win here by stoppage.
- Pettis will also be making his Bellator debut after a successful stint in the UFC where he went 9-5 overall. Pettis was one of the best flyweights in the sport but he’s still a very capable fighter at bantamweight as well. Bellator has been kind to Pettis here and is giving him an overmatched opponent in Khashakyan, who is also making his Bellator debut here. Although Khashakyan is on a three-fight win streak, they were against lesser competition. The last time we saw him fight someone as good as Pettis was against Sean O’Malley on the Contender Series in 2017 and he lost. Look for Pettis to outpoint his opponent and win a decision here.
- Next up we have a fun featherweight bout between Archuleta and Corrales. Archuleta is coming off of a loss to the champ Patricio Pitbull but before that had won 18 straight fights. He’s still a top fighter at 145lbs. That being said, don’t write off Corrales. He is coming off of a loss to Darrion Caldwell, but had won five straight fights before that, including a big underdog win against Aaron Pico. Considering the odds, there could be value here on Corrales.
- And finally, we have a featherweight Grand Prix semifinal pitting Caldwell against Borics. Caldwell is coming off of a nice win over Corrales and other than Kyoji Horiguchi he has run through everyone else he’s fought the last few years. But Borics is something special. He is coming off of back-to-back wins over Pat Curran and Aaron Pico and has looked amazing in Bellator. I believe Borics is the real sleeper of the Grand Prix and to get him at plus money here seems like a good bet. Don’t be surprised if Borics ends up making it all the way to the finals of this tournament.
