The Bellator season eight middleweight tournament quarterfinals took place tonight at Bellator 89, along with a main event matchup with the Bellator World Bantamweight Title on the line. Overall two favorites cashed, while three underdogs came through. Here’s a betting recap for the event based on closing MMA odds: BELLATOR BETTING FAVORITES THAT WON In the main event of the evening, Eduardo Dantas knocked out Marcos Galvao to defend his Bellator World Bantamweight Championship. Dantas closed as a -220 favorite (bet $220 to wn $200), while Galvao closed as a +200 underdog (bet $100 to win $200). Dantas controlled the fight in the standup with the use of his jab, and he finished off Galvao with a second-round uppercut to bounce back from his KO loss to Tyson Nam last summer. In a middleweight quarterfinal, Brett Cooper (-345) defeated Norman Paraisy (+315) via unanimous decision in a gritty war. Cooper controlled the majority of the fight with his effective offensive wrestling, although Paraisy definitely had his moments in the striking department. With the dominant victory, Cooper is now one of the favorites to win the whole middleweight tournament. BELLATOR BETTING UNDERDOGS THAT WON In one of the best fights of the year, Dan Cramer (+190) was able to win a close decision over Brian Rogers (-210) to advance to the next round of the tournament. It was a back-and-forth war but ultimately Cramer’s wrestling and takedowns won the UFC veteran the fight. If you bet on him, nice work. In the first match on the Spike TV broadcast, veteran Doug Marshall (+365) knocked out Andreas Spang (-410) to cash as a huge dog. To anyone who bet on Marshall, congratulations, because he definitely won some smart people some extra cash on Valentine’s Day. Marshall is now riding a two-fight win streak in Bellator with two huge knockout wins and there is no way he’ll ever be such a huge underdog again. In the first quarterfinal matchup, Sultan Aliev (+125) defeated Mikkel Parlo (-135) via decision to cash as a dog. Aliev controlled the first two rounds of the fight but Parlo came back in the third, leading to those backing Aliev to have a brief scare. However, the judges scored the fight correctly and the underdog cashed.
