Good lord this Saturday is packed. 2 UFC cards, Andre Ward v. Sergey Kovalev, NXT Takeover and a damn good Bellator card. It almost makes me wish I had cable so I could DVR some of this. Almost. (F*ck off Comcast).
Bellator returns to the SAP Center in San Jose, California with a card headlined by a fantastic fight between Benson Henderson and the Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler. You also get to see Michael "Venom" Page, Francis Carmont and some solid prospects competing. Best of all, DJ Mark and myself will be in the building. I'm going to do my best to be professional and not sing Bendo's "Awesome God" walkout song. Check out our picks below.
Bellator Lightweight Championship
Michael Chandler (c) v. Benson Henderson:
This one just feels dirty. Bendo is one of my favorite lightweights, but I really don't like his chances in this one. He simply has not looked good since joining the Bellator roster. Bendo got flat out obliterated by Koreshkov in his Bellator debut for 25 straight minutes. After we all convinced ourselves that his performance in that fight was due to him being too small for the weight class, Bendo next took on Patrício Freire in a fight where he appeared to be gun shy. He was absolutely losing this fighter before Pitbull broke his leg in a bit of a freak accident. Chandler, conversely, bounced back from a couple hard losses to Eddie Alvarez and Will Brooks (x2) to win 3 fights including his last fight where he knocked Patricky Freire into the next dimension to capture the Bellator title. I don't like picking against Bendo and I almost never do, but I have to go with Chandler here. He simply has looked better in his recent fights. Chandler by decision.
Picking Chandler: Dr. Law
Picking Henderson: Kid P, DJ Mark, Gooms
