Season 10 of Bellator keeps on rolling this Friday as another title is on the line and the first round of their lightweight tournament kicks off. Even though Emanuel Newton has been in the higher profile fights of late, it’s Attila Vegh who is defending his light heavyweight title at Bellator 113. Some familiar names headline the lightweight tournament as well, as former tournament champion David Rickels takes on Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire in the marquee matchup of the first round. Previous tourney runner-up Marcin Held hopes to take his tournament run one step further this season, and Derek Anderson looks to build off of his recent victory over Patrick ‘Pitbull’ in his first appearance in a Bellator tournament. MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas released the betting lines for Bellator 113 today at Several Bookmakers, featuring the bouts with the aforementioned fighters as well as the fourth tournament bout with Derek Campos and Tim Welch. Take a look: ——————– MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 9pm ET) Bellator Light Heavyweight Title Emanuel Newton -165 (c) Attila Vegh +125 Lightweight Tournament Opening Round David Rickels -170 Patricky Freire +130 Marcin Held -405 Rodrigo Cavalheiro +285 Derek Campos -280 Tim Welch +200 ——————– PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 7pm ET) Derek Anderson -315 Brandon Girtz +235 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: I thought Emanuel Newton beat Attila Vegh in their first bout back in July 2012, and since that point he’s been more active, has shown improvement, and seems to have gained a great deal of confidence in his abilities. Couple those factors with Vegh coming off more than a year outside of the cage, and I think most people will favor Newton here. I can definitely see this line moving too far in his direction because of the victories over King Mo and there potentially being some value on Vegh however. It’s a tight line, and it should remain as such. Rickels and the elder ‘Pitbull’ are fighters headed in two different directions. Rickels still seems to be making improvements, while Patricky has now lost four of his past six bouts. This one should be close because Freire does have solid skills in every area, but Rickels will be the better conditioned fighter and should have significant advantages in the second and third round as long as he survives the early blitz. Marcin Held is a fighter Bellator wants to have success, as he is still very young, improving rapidly, and fun to watch. Against Brazilian power striker Rodrigo Cavalheiro, Held is going to have a massive grappling advantage and should put that to use early especially given the nature of the quick turnarounds in these tournaments. As long as he fights smart, Held should pick up a fairly easy victory, but the price isn’t necessarily worth it. I still struggle to determine whether I really consider Derek Campos a prospect or not. He’s definitely got some solid skills, but I’m not sure he’ll ever find a great deal of success in Bellator or any of the other larger promotions. That said, I expect him to be the better wrestler and overall grappler in this fight against Tim Welch (who is taking the fight on short notice, but was scheduled to compete on the card already). Bellator’s shuffling of the tournament brackets also makes it seem like they expect Campos to make it through to the semifinals with… Derek Anderson. Anderson was originally slated to fight Terry Etim in the opening round, which would have been a very interesting bout. Now Anderson gets the grappling heavy Brandon Girtz in the first round in a bout which should be well-suited to his skills. Anderson has solid grappling of his own, but also showed some nice striking in his last bout against Patricky ‘Pitbull’.
