Bellator 239 takes place Friday, February 21 at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the main card, and here they are.
Bellator 239 Opening Odds
Yaroslav Amosov -280
Ed Ruth +220
Myles Jury -215
Brandon Girtz +175
Tyrell Fortune -500
Timothy Johnson +375
Valentin Moldavsky -500
Javy Ayala +375
And here are my initial thoughts on the Bellator 239 Opening Odds:
- The main event sees two of Bellator’s better up-and-coming welterweights go at it as Amosov takes on Ruth. It’s a shame Bellator doesn’t offer five-round main events for its non-title fights as this fight could use those two extra rounds. As it is, it’s still a very good fight with the winner potentially jumping into title contention at 170lbs. Amosov is unbeaten at 22-0 and is 3-0 in Bellator so far with wins over Erick Silva, David Rickels, and Gerald Harris. He has been very impressive so far in his MMA career and now gets a step up when he takes on Ruth, who has looked good himself. Ruth is 8-1 in Bellator and in his MMA career with his lone loss coming to Neiman Gracie in the Bellato Welterweight Grand Prix. Since then he’s picked up wins over Jason Jackson and Kiichi Kunimoto. I do favor Amosov to win this fight as he’s been a bit more impressive to me with his undefeated record, but these odds seem way too far off considering how good Ruth is as well. The pick is Amosov, but the betting value is on Ruth.
- In lightweight action, we have Jury taking on Girtz. Jury dropped a decision to Benson Henderson in his Bellator debut and has lost three straight fights but he’s a highly-experienced competitor and we have seen him pick up some really nice wins in the past in the UFC. As for Girtz, he’s one of the gatekeepers of the Bellator lightweight division. I’m not too high on Girtz but he does occasionally pull off the upset. The pick is Jury, but I don’t love the odds here.
- There are two heavyweight bouts on this card, and both favorites opened at -500 as Fortune and Moldavsky are both expected to easily win their fights. In Fortune’s card, he’s unbeaten at 8-0 in Bellator and in his MMA career and has looked fantastic every time he steps into the cage. He takes on the UFC vet Johnson, who has lost both his Bellator fights by knockout. Fortune should be able to take Johnson down and finish him on the ground with punches. In the other fight, Moldavsky is 3-0 since signing with Bellator and is one of the better prospects in the division while Ayala is coming off of a huge TKO win over Frank Mir in his last fight. Girtz is coming off of a nice win over Saad Awad but has lost four of his last six fights overall. Ayala is essentially a gatekeeper but has been known to pull off the occasional upset. The pick is Moldavsky, but of the two big heavyweight favorites, I’m more confident in Fortune.
