Bellator 85 Predictions

Sam's Picks
Main Card

Michael Chandler vs. Rick Hawn: When looking at Bellator’s lightweight roster, there aren’t many fighters who pose too much of a threat to Chandler’s belt, minus one fighter. That one man is Rick Hawn. Being one of the best judo guys at 155, his strength is rarely outmatched and that always plays a big part in grappling matches, which is inevitably what this is going to be. With Chandler’s wrestling and Hawn’s judo being right on the same level, how much of the grappling department be cancelled out? That is the biggest question heading into this main event. When looking at their standup, they’re both growing and neither are particularly fantastic but the fighter who is growing the fastest is Chandler. He is the more technical and possibly the more powerful striker. That is what it is going to come down to = Chandler via unanimous decision.

Pat Curran vs. Patricio Freire: The fireworks that this fight is going to display are going to be amazing. With two extremely dynamic strikers coming together for a title is almost always incredible. When looking at both of these guys, it’s hard to tell who will look better. They both haven’t fought for quite some time and that is always a big factor in the performance of the fighter. What I personally find the most important, though, is their pair of matchups with Joe Warren. Freire lost a very close decision to Warren while Curran put him in a coma (not really, at least I don’t think so) = Curran via 4^th round TKO.

Renato Sobral vs. Mikhail Zayats = Sobral via 1^st round submission (choke).

Prelims

Jacob Noe vs. Seth Petruzelli =  Petruzelli via unanimous decision.

Jason Lambert vs. Hector Ramirez = Lambert via split decision.

Atanas Djambazov vs. Emanuel Newton = Newton via 3^rd round TKO.

J.J. Ambrose vs. Brian Warren = Ambrose via 3^rd round decision.

Mike Guymon vs. Savant Young = Guymon via 2^nd round submission.

Joe Williams vs. Jamie Yager = Yager via unanimous decision.

Joe Camacho vs. Aaron Miller = Miller via unanimous decision.

Cleber Luciano vs. Mario Navarro = Navarro via split decision.

Dave's Picks
Main Card

Michael Chandler vs. Rick Hawn: This fight will be a close one. Hawn just finds ways to aggravate and confuse his opponents. Hawn gets his opponents to fight his fight. Chandler is a different breed and by far the hardest guy Hawn has ever faced. What Chandler needs to do is fight his fight which is to go into berserker mode and try and dirty box against the cage and take Hawn down to the ground and pound him out. Hawn will likely be a bit bigger than Chandler but Chandler is going to be much faster. This fight will be close and I wouldn’t be shocked if it went to a decision but I’m going with who I truly think has the best chance to win. = Chandler by submission in round 5.

Pat Curran vs. Patricio Freire: This fight is so hard for me to pick. Two major factors is 1) Curran hasn’t fought in over 10 months. 2) Curran will be much larger than Pitbull. Curran seems to have really perfected his craft as of late. But Pitbull has always been amazing from the get-go. I think Curran needs to keep Pitbull at bay with his reach advantage and then attack the openings; just like his fight against Joe Warren. Pitbull needs to get inside and hope to land bombs. I’m going with the guy who practically murdered Joe Warren. = Curran by split decision.

Renato Sobral vs. Mikhail Zayats = Sobral by submission in round 2.

Prelims

Jacob Noe vs. Seth Petruzelli = Petruzelli by unanimous decision.

Jason Lambert vs. Hector Ramirez = Lambert by split decision.

Atanas Djambazov vs. Emanuel Newton: Newton by TKO in round 2.

J.J. Ambrose vs. Brian Warren = Ambrose by submission in round 1.

Mike Guymon vs. Savant Young = Guymon by unanimous decision.

Joe Williams vs. Jamie Yager = Yager by unanimous decision.

Joe Camacho vs. Aaron Mille = Miller by split decision.

Cleber Luciano vs. Mario Navarro = Luciano by unanimous decision.