If you like the Welterweight division, Bellator 140 is the card for you, and the Mohegan Sun Arena is the place to be tomorrow night (Fri., July 17, 2015).
The Spike TV-televised show, which will emanate from Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., features the cream of the crop of Bellator's 170-pound class. That cream rises to the top in the main event as Welterweight champion Douglas Lima defends his belt against Andrey Koreshkov.
A future contender may be found in the four bouts that take place underneath, with hard hitting Welterweights like Chris "The Cutt" Honeycutt and Paul "Semtex" Daley looking to make a statement about their own title aspirations.
Let's break it down:
170 lbs.: Douglas Lima (26-5) vs. Andrey Koreshkov (17-1)
Lima claimed the division's vacant title in the main event of Bellator 117 in April 2014 and hasn't been seen since. Injuries and scheduling issues have both played a part, but "The Phenom" is lucky he's 27 and not 37, as a one-year layoff is a lot more deadly when you lose power and stamina to age. Some fighters seem to defy the march of time, but few can defy ring rust, so hopefully Lima has been able to spar enough in camp to make up for it.
He's well matched with Koreshov, though, who has also been inactive since winning the Season 10 welterweight tournament in July 2014, and like Lima injuries played a part. In Koreshkov's view the time off made him a better fighter, believing his trainer Alexander Shlemenko has crafted the perfect game plan. Given Shlemenko's long suspension from the CSAC, training fighters is all he can do for the moment.
Koreshkov and Lima both have dynamite in their hands, with the former stopping 59 percent of his wins (the latter 46 percent). Lima doesn't just get technical knockouts with his hands, though, he also has a devastating leg kick that he used to great effect against Rick Hawn and Michail Tsarev, among others.
Although we haven't seen it in his long and successful Bellator run he's also finished 42 percent of fights by submission. Koreshkov's got far fewer submissions (18 percent of wins), but there's one more thing they do have in common: Their only losses in Bellator were against "Funky" Ben Askren. It's almost a coin flip.
Final prediction: Andrey Koreshkov becomes the new Bellator Welterweight Champion via split decision.
170 lbs.: Chris Honeycutt (6-0) vs. Paul Bradley (22-6)
The undefeated Honeycutt comes in with a ton of momentum, having finished his last three fights via technical knockout, working his way up to co-main event status after his impressive finish of Clayton MacFarlane. Bradley is a versatile and tough opponent, having won two of his last three Bellator fights, including a main event bout with Josh "The Dentist" Neer. Bradley's also got a great chin as he's only been stopped once, and it was actually via knees to the body. Honeycutt may overwhelm him in the end, but a stoppage seems unlikely.
Final prediction: Chris Honeycutt wins the fight via unanimous decision.
170 lbs.: Michael Page (7-0) vs. Rudy Bears (16-13)
"Venom" Page was originally scheduled for the "British Invasion" in February, but had to withdraw because of a serious facial injury suffered in training. Presumably he's been a little more careful in training since then. He's a flashy fighter who likes to show off his martial arts moves, and four wins by technical knockout he hasn't suffered for it so far. One never likes to call an opponent a pushover or a tomato can, but Bears has lost six of his last nine, and his last win in Bellator was in 2010. The promotion has more or less handpicked an opponent for Page to shine on.
Final prediction: Michael Page via first round knockout.
170 lbs.: Brennan Ward (10-3) vs. Roger Carroll (16-11)
Welterweight is a recent change for Brennan Ward. One that paid dividends against Curtis Millender at the aforementioned "British Invasion." Considering that "Irish Bad Boy" once won a Bellator Middleweight tournament, he has to be expected to be a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately due to a late change to the Bellator MMA card for this event, Ward's original opponent "War Horse" Gavin Sterritt was scratched and journeyman Roger "The Leprechaun" Carroll stepped in. As a career Middleweight with a middling record and losses to both Chuck O'Neil and Dhiego Lima, he shouldn't pose much threat to Ward ... although he is on a three-fight win streak.
Final prediction: Brennan Ward via second round technical knockout.
170 lbs.: Paul Daley (36-13-2) vs. Dennis Olson (14-8)
The hard-hitting "Semtex" Daley finishes nearly 75 percent of his opponents via (technical) knockout. Meanwhile, the less hard-hitting Olson finishes less than 1 in 10 of his opponents (7 percent) the same way. To Olson's credit, he's won three of his last five, but his activity level is questionable since he's only taking an average of one fight per year. His only real chance is to try to take Daley to a decision (22% of all of Daley's losses) but it's almost inconceivable he could last long enough to get one.
Final prediction: Paul Daley via knockout early in the first round.
That's a wrap!
MMAmania.com will deliver live coverage of Bellator 140: "Lima vs. Koreshkov" tomorrow night (Fri., July 17, 2015), with the first fight streaming live online at 6 p.m. ET followed by the televised portion of Bellator 139, which airs live on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET.
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