Bellator 220 (MacDonald vs Fitch) is set for the SAP Center in San Jose, California, for Saturday night. The main event is fight for the Bellator Welterweight Championship between Rory MacDonald, who is defending his belt, and Jon Fitch. The co-main event features Ilima-Lei Macfarlane defending her Bellator Women’s Flyweight belt against Veta Arteaga. You can catch the whole main card on DAZN. We have the full card and sports betting suggestions for several of the tilts for your consideration.
Bellator 220 Odds, Preview & Predictions
The Red King @rory_macdonald made quite an impression in his @BellatorMMA debut 🇨🇦👑 Watch him defend the WW title against @jonfitchdotnet at #Bellator220 this Saturday & stream some of the biggest names in MMA for under $100 a year 👊 pic.twitter.com/kjk7Q4Lgq8
— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) April 23, 2019
- When: Friday, April 27th, 2019 at 10:00 PM ET (Main Card)
- Where: SAP Center San Jose, CA
- TV: DAZN
- Live Stream: Bellator Live
- Rory MacDonald vs Jon Fitch (Bellator Welterweight title fight)
- Ilima-Lei Macfarlane vs Veta Arteaga (Bellator Women’s Flyweight title fight)
- Benson Henderson vs Adam Piccolotti (Lightweight)
- Phil Davis vs Liam McGeary (Light Heavyweight)
- Gaston Bolanos vs Nathan Stolen (Lightweight)
- Tom Ponce de Leon vs Jamario Mulder (Welterweight)
- Diego Herzog vs Jordan Williams (Middleweight)
- Justin Tenedora vs Matthew Perez (Flyweight)
- Abraham Vaesau vs Justin Roswell (Welterweight)
- Aviv Gozali vs Travis Crain (Lightweight)
- Josh San Diego vs Brandon Laroco (Catchweight)
- Boris Novachkov vs Chris Inocencio (Featherweight)
- Ignacio Ortiz vs Roger Severson (Featherweight)
Rory MacDonald vs Jon Fitch
This fight has MacDonald coming in off a loss to Gegard Mousasi, as MacDonald decided to up his weight and try to hold two belts at the same time. Fitch comes in with five consecutive wins, including his Bellator debut, a win over Paul Daley via unanimous decision. Fitch’s five-fight winning streak dates back to 2014, which means he has not fought as much as MacDonald over that time frame. His victims have included Jake Shields and Yushin Okami in addition to Daley. All three are solid veterans, but none of them have the skill level of MacDonald.
MacDonald has also limited his exposure over the past few years. This will be his fourth Bellator fight, and he has won two of his first three. In his loss to Mousasi, when he attempted to win the middleweight belt, he got finished in the second round. However, I don’t expect Fitch to be able to pull off a similar result. Fitch follows a secure plan in his fighting, trying to get the opponent down on the ground and then secure enough points with his wrestling skills to win on the cards. Fitch is still fighting at the age of 41, so we see that his plan has worked. He doesn’t take much punishment as a result, but when he has to stay on his feet, he generally does not win. MacDonald should be able to keep the fight up — and even if grappling takes a role, MacDonald is the better of the two.
Final Prediction: MacDonald wins via decision
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane vs Veta Arteaga
This match features Macfarlane’s third defense of her belt. In her second defense, she used a triangle choke to stop Valerie Letourneau, a former UFC fighter. Arteaga has won two fights in a row, beating Emily Ducote and Denise Kielholtz. That gives her a 4-2 record in Bellator but, to be fair, her losses came in close split decisions against Anastasia Yankova and Bruna Ellen. Macfarlane’s win over Letourneau started slowly, but Macfarlane picked up her aggression near the midpoint of the fight, and after a couple of tussels on the ground, Macfarlane delivered a submission in the third round.
Macfarlane is better than either of the two Bellator fighters who beat Arteaga. Macfarlane fights well on her feet as well as in the wrestling game, which takes any real advantage away from Arteaga, who will have her hands full with the champion. Unless Arteaga can land a lucky strike, it’s hard to see her winning this on the cards.
Final Prediction: Macfarlane wins via stoppage
