The Bellator MMA promotion heads to paradise this Friday, as Bellator 278 will take place in Honolulu, Hawaii, on April 22, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena. This is an event set aside for first responders and military personnel, which means that the general public will not be able to get tickets for sale. The main event features Juliana Velasquez’s Bellator Women’s Flyweight title defense against Liz Carmouche. Also on the card are two of the wild card qualifier fights for the Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix. You can catch the main card on Showtime and the preliminary card on YouTube or Pluto TV. We have the complete fight card along with online Bellator betting predictions for the title fight.
Bellator 278: Velasquez vs Carmouche Preview
Main Card (Showtime)
- Juliana Velasquez vs Liz Carmouche (Bellator Women’s Flyweight Championship)
- Nikita Mikhailov vs Enrique Barzola (Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix Wild Card Qualifier)
- Jornal Lugo vs Danny Sabatello (Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix Wild Card Qualifier) Nate Andrews vs Manny Muro (Catchweight – 160 lbs)
Preliminary Card (YouTube / Pluto TV)
- Weber Almeida vs Fabricio Franco (Featherweight)
- Cee Jay Hamilton vs Erik Perez (Bantamweight)
- Dante Schiro vs Scotty Hao (Welterweight)
- Makoa Cooper vs Blake Perry (Welterweight)
Juliana Velasquez vs Liz Carmouche gives an undefeated champoin in Velasquez, but Carmouche is likely the toughest tests he has faced to this point. When Carmouche joined Bellator, her initial rival was also her friend, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, the Bellator Women’s Flyweight champ before Velasquez. Velasquez took the belt from MacFarlane, and now Carmouche is the challenger. According to some, Carmouche is the best women’s MMA fighter who has never won a belt with a promotion. She has beaten Jessica Andrade and Valentina Shevchenko, but now she gets her chance. Velasquez has skins of her own on the wall, beating MacFarlane to take the belt and then defending it against Denise Kielholtz, the former Bellator kickboxing champ.
Velasquez uses a technical approach to set up her striking, starting with front kicks to push her opponent away from her and then delivering a combo to stack up points. Carmouche is more of a pressure fighter, looking to move inside and trade blows. However, from the clinch, Carmouche is not always active. Should the fight head to the mat, Carmouche has a size advantage over Velasquez and also holds a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, so she should have an edge over Velasquez there, whose background is in judo.
It is the size disadvantage that makes Velasquez most vulnerable, but Carmouche also brings a lot more power in her striking than MacFarlane did, and Velasquez will have to figure out how to solve that. Her size and length kept MacFarlane from getting close enough to try a takedown, and Carmouche has the same trainer, so the tactics coming Velasquez’s way s hould be similar.
Carmouche’s weakness is that she can make strategic errors, and a technically savvy fighter such as Velasquez could cause her problems. Carmouche must take things to the ground and use ground-and-pound or submission attempts to turn things her way. If things stay upright, Velasquez should be able to win on points.
Final Prediction: Velasquez wins via decision
