Bellator 150 Preview/Predictions

By: Logan Helfferich

For Bellator 150, I’m only going to preview the final three fights. Since Marcos Galvao had to pull out of the main event title fight against Eduardo Dantas due to illness, the original co-main event was moved to the main event position. Also, an undercard featherweight fight was added to the main card. The first fight on the main card is between two women flyweight fighters and Bellator doesn’t have any championship belts for women. If Bellator realized the talent that women fighters had and actually gave them enough respect to let them be relevant and have championship belts to fight for, then I would be intrigued. If Bellator wants to be seriously respected by MMA fans, they need to have championship belts for the women’s weight divisions.

Main Event

Heavyweight: Vinicius “Spartan” Quieroz vs. Cheick Kongo

Expect Kongo to use his size and experience in this fight. He’s likely to try to get “Spartan” to the ground and use his ground and pound. Kongo was known for his kick-boxing skills when he was in the UFC, but late in his career there and early into his Bellator career, Kongo has showed an improved ground game with excellent power in his ground and pound. “Spartan” could look to stand and strike with Kongo and look for the knockout, but again, Kongo is known for his world-class kickboxing. There’s really no way Kongo can lose this fight that makes sense, and don’t expect it to be a fast-paced fight either. Kongo will likely out-strike “Spartan” until he decides to take him down and control the fight from there.

Prediction: Kongo defeats “Spartan” via Decision

Main Card

Lightweight: Bobby Cooper vs. David Rickels

In the new co-main event, David Rickels will be looking to bounce back from his TKO loss to Michael Chandler. This fight was originally scheduled to be third out of five fights on the main card, but the scratching of the original main event moved it up to the co-main event slot. Bellator likely didn’t mind this decision too much since the event is taking place in Rickels’ home state of Kansas. Surely, they’ll still sell plenty of tickets with a big name like Kongo and the hometown hero, Rickels. Cooper is coming off a split decision win against Pablo Villaseca. He’s never been finished in his career. Rickels needs an impressive victory to get back into title contention. He’ll need to avoid gassing out because Cooper has proven that he is tough to finish. An upset here is possible, but Rickels is usually well-conditioned and should be motivated by the crowd.

Prediction: Rickels defeats Cooper via Decision

Middleweight: Francisco France vs. Kendall Grove

This could end up being the fight of the night. France has won 12 of his 13 fights by submission and Grove is known for his exceptional ground game and jiu-jitsu. France is coming off of a rear-naked choke victory over Ben Reiter, a top Bellator middleweight. Grove recently TKO’d Joey Beltran after being TKO’d by Brandon Halsey in a middleweight championship fight. Grove could earn himself another title shot with an impressive win against France. France will likely look for takedowns and try to control Grove on the ground. Grove is very active off of his back, but he’ll need to avoid being submitted himself by the skilled France. If Grove isn’t able to defend takedowns or sink in a submission off of his back, then France could pull off a huge win for himself and possibly even get his own name put into the title contender conversation.

Prediction: France defeats Grove via Decision