The most dominant champion in the Bellator Fighting Championships will be back in action this weekend at Bellator 64 when Ben Askren defends his title against Season 5 Welterweight tournament winner Douglas Lima.
Askren is one of the best fighters in the world not fighting in the UFC. His elite wrestling skills have propelled him to nine straight victories, where he dominated most of the action with take-downs and ground-and-pound.
Oddsmakers at Bovada currently have Askren as a -325 favorite to defend against Lima. The only way Lima will pay off at +250 at Bovada is if he’s able to stuff one of the best take-downs in MMA. Until Askren fights the best Welterweights in the world it doesn’t make much sense to bet against him.
Alexandre Bezerra will try to stop Marlon Sandro from getting to the Featherweight tournament finals two seasons in a row when the two face off at Bellator 64. Oddsmakers at Bovada currently have Sandro as a -190 favorite, while a successful bet on Bezerra will pay +155.
This is a close fight to call but it’s Bezerra that has an eight-fight win streak that were all finished via submission or TKO. This fight will likely not go the distance and should be the most entertaining matchup on the Bellator 64 card.
Masakatsu Ueda is heavily favored against Travis Marx in one of the Bantamweight quarterfinal fights. Currently Bovada has a line of -400 on Ueda, whose Shooto experience should be enough against Marx. If Marx can manage the upset he will pay +300 at Bovada.
In the other Bellator Bantamweight tournament quarterfinal Hiroshi Nakamura and undefeated Rodrigo Lima are closely handicapped at Bovada. Lima is a slight favorite at -120, while Nakamura currently pays -110.
The line on this fight is a bit of a surprise considering that Lima has been a beast so far in his career; he’s 10-0 with eight of those wins coming via first-round stoppage. The -120 price on Lima looks like a huge bargain and will likely get more expensive as fight time approaches.