In an event that looked more like an old Strikeforce show, Scott Coker’s Bellator MMA held an event last night (Friday, October 23, 2015) for Bellator 144, which was headlined by a middleweight title match between former champion Brandon Halsey and challenger Rafael Carvalho. Overall, on the night three betting favorites were victorious while one underdog picked up wins based on Several Bookmakers‘s closing odds. Bellator 144 Favorites That Won In the co-main event of the evening, former Bellator title challenger Brennan Ward put a whooping on Dennis Olson. Ward was in complete control, eventually putting Olson away with strikes near the end of the first round. Ward was victorious at -1200 (Bet $1200 to win $100) while Olson lost as a +1000 (Bet $100 to win $1000) underdog. In a featherweight battle, Goiti Yamauchi put on a grappling clinic against a game Isao Kobayashi. Kobayashi did what he could to survive as long as possible, but eventually, Yamauchi was too much for him as he wore Kobayashi down and submitted him with a third round rear naked choke. Yamauchi looked strong as a -210 favorite while Kobayashi was a +190 dog. In a welterweight slaughter, Michael Page put an overmatched Charlie Ontiveros away in surprising fashion. Known for his incredibly diverse striking attack, Page chose to take this fight to the ground where he unleashed a torrent of elbows which broke Ontiveros’ jaw and put a halt to the action in the first round. Page came through as a ridiculous -1800 betting favorite while Ontiveros stood no chance as a +1400 underdog. Bellator 144 Underdogs that Won In the main event of the evening, Rafael Carvalho pulled off a shocker in one of 2015’s biggest upsets by stopping Brandon Halsey in the second round. Halsey seemed to be in complete control after a dominant first round which consisted of takedowns and complete one-sided control. That ended in the second frame when Carvalho unleashed a heavy kick to the body that folded Halsey in half, stopping the fight. Carvalho won despite being a gigantic +800 underdog while Halsey was upset as a -1000 favorite.
