Bellator 213 takes place Saturday, December 15 at Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the odds for the card, and here they are.
Bellator 213 Opening Odds
Ilima-Mei Macfarlane -365
Valerie Letourneau +255
Muhammad Lawal -265
Liam McGeary +185
Lyoto Machida -130
Rafael Carvalho -110
Ed Ruth -175
Neiman Gracia +135
And my initial reactions on the odds are as follows:
– The main event should be a really good fight between Bellator’s flyweight champ Macfarlane and UFC veteran Letourneau. So far, Macfarlane has faced very little adversity in her career and Letourneau is one of the most experienced fighters in the division. Macfarlane is one of the most well-rounded flyweights in the world right now and althoigh Letourneau has won her last two fights, she was exposed in her last couple of outings in the UFC as not much more than a gatekeeper at this point of her career. I expect Macfarlane to get the finish in what is a five-round fight, and she’ll be a popular parlay piece for bettors this weekend.
– In a fight that looks like a stylistic mismatch, Lawal should be able to take McGeary down whenever he wants to and as long as Lawal can avoid the submission attempts of McGeary he will win this fight. McGeary doesn’t present much of a threat on the feet where Lawal is the weakest, and because he is comfortale fighting off of his back Lawal should find getting takedowns easy. Lawal is excellent at defending submissions on the ground, and he should be able to win a comfortable decision or possibly even get a stoppage here.
– The Machida vs. Carvalho fight is arguably the most interesting bout on the whole card, and it’s a pretty tough one to call. Machida looked great in his last fight, a KO win over Vitor Belfort, but struggled in a controversial split decision win over Eryk Anders in the fight before that and had a nasty losing skid prior. Machida is still highly skilled and dangerous with his striking, but he’s getting up there in age and his chin is a huge question mark. Carvalho got destroyed by Gegard Mousasi in his last fight but overall has shown he’s an explosive striker throughout his Bellator career, and he could be Machida’s kryptonite. The line is likely going to stay close to even throughout the week, but right now I am slightly leaning towards Carvalho, especially if he’s a pup.
– Ruth vs. Gracie is a welterweight tournament bout so it will be five rounds. Neither fighter has ever been five rounds in their career before, so that could make things very interesting if it goes late. Both fighters are undefeated in their careers and are both blue-chip prospects at 170lbs. Five of Ruth’s wins have come by knockout and seven of Gracie’s wins have come by submission, making this an extremely intriguing bout. I still have to lean towards Ruth though, just because of his pure wrestling ability which should allow him to dictate where this fight takes place. If he can keep it standing, he should be able to outstrike Gracie. But even if it goes to the ground as long as Ruth is careful he should be able to hold top position and rain down punches. I’m very much looking forward to this fight, but would definitely lean towards Ruth.
CLICK BELOW TO BET ON BELLATOR 213
