RORY MACDONALD VS JON FITCH SET FOR APRIL BELLATOR EVENT
The Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix will continue to proceed along with the last quarterfinal bout to be reserved, and I’ll offer my thoughts on this brand new matchup in the present MMA odds and ends.
Rory MacDonald vs. Jon Fitch, Bellator
Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald will put his belt on the line from the quarterfinals of the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix when he chooses Jon Fitch in a yet-to-be-named event set for April 27 in San Jose, California. Marc Raimondi of all MMAFighting.com broke the information. Here is the fourth and final quarterfinal bout in the championship. Douglas Lima conquer Andrey Koreshkov within their trilogy fight and Nieman Gracie upset Ed Ruth in another quartefinal matchups completed thus far, together with the Michael Page vs. Paul Daley struggle set to take place in February. The winner of MacDonald vs. Fitch will take on Gracie on the side of the bracket’s semifinals, while Lima will combat the winer of Page vs. Daley.
MacDonald (20-5) is 2-1 so much in Bellator. In his first two Bellator fights, he seemed like one of the best fighters in the world as he filed Daley and beat Lima more than five rounds to win the welterweight title. He then moved up in weight in his final bout when he took on Gegard Mousasi in his bid to be a rare Bellator double winner. However, MacDonald got crushed in that fight, losing through second-round TKO. MacDonald will have had six months between the Mousasi and Fitch fights, so that he ought to be good to go health-wise. But the fact he took so much damage against Mousasi is worrisome. Then again, MacDonald was fighting a weight class for the first time. At welterweight, he’s clearly one of the very best in the world, and he owns a dominant win over current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.
Fitch (31-7-1) has quietly made a run at the dusk of his profession. Currently 40, Fitch is riding a five-fight win series at the moment which comprises a dominant win over Daley in his Bellator debut. As well, Fitch holds noteworthy wins over Jake Shields and Yushin Okami during his latest win series, and he was the PFL welterweight champion before signing with Bellator. Since becoming cut by the UFC in 2013, Fitch has gone 7-2 in WSOF, PFL and Bellator. He is no longer one of the sport’s elite welterweights such as he was a decade ago, but he still has a solid wrestling base that can get him his hand raised.
That being said, this is MacDonald’s fight to lose. He must possess the takedown defense to maintain the fight on the toes, and in the standup there’s no wonder MacDonald is the superior fighter. Fitch hasn’t won a fight by knockout since 2006, therefore he seems to have no route to victory in this bout if he can not get it into the floor. Even with the reduction to Mousasi, I would nevertheless peg MacDonald about a -500 preferred to defend his belt against Fitch and move on to another round of this championship.
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