This week’s Bellator action will come from Cleveland, Ohio and will feature two Middleweight tournament semi-final fights, two Lightweight semi-final fights, and a highly-anticipated Lightweight rematch between former champion Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki.
In the main event of the Bellator 66 fight card Alvarez will look to avenge a loss he suffered to Aoki over three years ago. In that fight Aoki was able to end it in the first round via heel hook submission, but it is Alvarez that has seemed to evolve more over the last three years.
Oddsmakers at Bovada currently have Alvarez handicapped as the -300 favorite to beat Shinya Aoki. The Japanese Dream and Pride Fighting submission legend will currently pay +230 for the upset, mainly because he hasn’t been fighting higher-ranked competition over the last few years.
When Brian Rogers got to the semi-final stage of the Bellator Season 5 Middleweight tournament he was knocked out by Alexander Shlemenko. It was the only loss he suffered in his last eight fights, and now he looks to make it further in the process this year with a win over Andreas Spang.
As a heavy -350 favorite at Topbet, Rogers is expected to destroy Spang in short order. If Spang can manage to weather the Rogers storm and find his way to a victory he will pay +270.
Rick Hawn will also be a heavy Topbet favorite against Lloyd Woodard in their Lightweight tournament semi-final. He’s currently handicapped at -270, while Woodard will pay +220 for the upset. Hawn will look to utilize his judo skills to keep the fight standing where he can dominate.
Maiquel Falcao and Vyacheslav Vasilevsky will meet in the other Middleweight tournament semi-final and it’s Falcao that gets the nod at Topbet as the slight -160 favorite. This one could go either way, giving the +130 underdog line on Vasilevsky some value.
In the other Lightweight tournament semi-final Brent Weedman is currently a Topbet -250 favorite over Thiago Michel Pereira Silva. Silva is on a three-fight win streak and will pay +200 as the potential best upset option on the card.