While this Friday marks the first Bellator event under the direction of Scott Coker, it won’t be until their September card that the promotion truly takes on the feel of Strikeforce. Bellator 122 still feels very much like Bjorn Rebney’s Bellator, as tournament bouts dominate this card. Middleweight tournament finals between Brett Cooper and Brandon Halsey will headline the card, with the Andrey Koreshkov/Adam McDonough welterweight final in second position. The semifinals for the light heavyweight ‘Summer Series’ also take place, as one kicks off the main card, while the other serves as a lead-in to the Spike TV broadcast on Spike.com. The other main card bout seems about 10 years out of place, as Karo Parisyan faces off against Phil Baroni in one of the more perversely intriguing bouts of the year. The undercard features a solid slate of bouts as well. In addition to the light heavyweight semifinal, prospect Bubba Jenkins, former tournament champion Karl Amoussou, and previous tournament finalist Saad Awad all have spots on the preliminary stream (in separate bouts). MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting lines for all eight of the aforementioned Bellator 122 bouts today at Several Bookmakers. Take a look: ——————– MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 9pm ET) Middleweight Tournament Final Brandon Halsey -150 Brett Cooper +110 Welterweight Tournament Final Andrey Koreshkov -300 Adam McDonough +220 Karo Parisyan -260 Phil Baroni +180 Light Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal Liam McGeary -405 Egidijus Valavicius +285 ——————– PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 7pm ET) Light Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal Philipe Lins -260 Kelly Anundson +180 Bubba Jenkins -1200 Poppies Martinez +600 Karl Amoussou -405 Fernando Gonzalez +285 Saad Awad -190 Joe Duarte +150 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: I think Halsey’s size and wrestling is going to be a big story early in this fight, and as long as he doesn’t get stopped in the later rounds he should end up winning a decision here. I can actually see it being very similar to the Dan Cramer fight without the big comeback in the third round. With Halsey the slight favorite I’m hoping that the public comes in on Cooper, as I could see betting the stronger wrestler if he gets to a dog price. The welterweight final is going to be far more competitive than nearly everyone expects, and Adam McDonough is definitely a live dog here, and one of the few recent fighters Bellator has discovered and developed. Koreshkov will have one big physical advantage in terms of his reach, and if he can utilize that effectively he can keep McDonough at bay, but with how much Koreshkov likes to engage I can see the smaller fighter getting around this reach. At anything over +200, a small play on McDonough is worth it to me. Looking at Phil Baroni’s career over the past decade is enough to make me pick any half-decent fighter against him. As shot as Karo Parisyan is, he’s still a capable fighter, and I think he survives Baroni’s initial barrage and likely wins a decision. Liam McGeary is quite simply a bigger and better fighter than Egidijus Valavicius. The Lithuanian has been around forever, but he’s still very defensively flawed in all areas and McGeary should be able to take advantage. I do think McGeary’s hype is a bit out of control, but he should roll here and I think he’ll be in a lot of parlays this weekend. Similarly, Philipe Lins has hype that is bit more than what he’s really earned at this point. Against Kelly Anundson he’ll be the better striker and submission grappler, but he could get ground down by the better wrestler. I don’t expect it, but it is enough of a worry to keep me away from betting him. Bubba Jenkins will roll against Poppies Martinez. There’s no other way to see this fight. -1200 is just, so there’s not much point in betting this. Amoussou/Gonzales is similar, but on a less extreme level. Karl Amoussou is a better striker, wrestler and grappler, but has cardio issues (like Jenkins). Despite that one worry, I still see Amoussou either getting a first-round stoppage or cruising to a decision, so even though people may not trust him 100% he’ll still likely end up in parlays. Saad Awad and Joe Duarte have a previous fight that Duarte won, but Awad is a rightful favorite here. Their first bout was competitive, and Awad has made some massive improvements since while Duarte is coming off a two-year layoff. I expect the public to back Awad fairly heavily here, and I honestly can’t disagree.
