Bellator 249: Cyborg vs. Blencowe takes place on Thursday, October 15 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the event, and MMAOB staff writer Adam Martin takes a look at the opening odds below.
Bellator 249 Odds
Cris Cyborg -909
Arlene Blencowe +550
Patricky Pitbull -400
Jaleel Willis +300
Ricky Bandejas -225
Leandro Higo +190
Mandel Nallo -145
Saad Awad +125
Andrew Kapel -205
Joseph Creer +175
Christian Edwards -225
Hamza Salim +190
Steve Mowry -205
Shawn Teed +175
Kemran Lachinov -110
Kyle Crutchmer -110
Albert Gonzales -110
Kastriot Xhema -110
Da’mon Blackshear -350
Mike Kimbel +285
Here are my initial thoughts on the Opening Odds For Bellator 249:
- The main event sees Bellator women’s featherweight champion Cyborg put her belt on the line against Blencowe. Cyborg is one of the greatest women’s MMA fighters of all time and she dominated Julia Budd in her Bellator debut to prove she is still elite. Blencowe is tough and durable and has earned her title shot after winning three straight fights. But as the betting odds suggest, this is a total mismatch. Cyborg will win, the only question is can Blencowe survive?
- The co-main event sees one of Bellator’s top lightweights in Pitbull against the former LFA welterweight champ Willis. Pitbull is coming off of a decision loss to Tofiq Musayev in RIZIN but before that, he had won seven straight fights. As for Willis, he’s won four straight fights and was the 170lbs champ in LFA before returning to Bellator. Unfortunately, the move down to lightweight for this bout proved disastrous as Pitbull came in heavy for this contest at 159lbs. Pitbull is the clear favorite, but Willis is certainly a wild card here after missing weight.
- At bantamweight, we have Bandejas against Higo in a battle between underrated 135lber. Bandejas has lost three of his last five fights but he has been fighting elite competition nearly every time out. As for Higo, he’s also been inconsistent but is coming off of a submission win over Shawn Bunch. Higo also missed weight here, and Bandejas is the clear betting favorite.
- A lightweight bout between Awad and Nallo should also be very exciting. Awad is a long-time gatekeeper in the Bellator lightweight division but he has fallen on hard times with four straight losses. As for Nallo, he was finished with strikes in his last fight but was unbeaten before then. Awad looks to be fade material here against a fresher and younger fighter here in Nallo.
- The heavyweight bout between Mowry and Teed should be good. Mowry is a top heavyweight prospect and is unbeaten through his first seven MMA fights with all his wins coming by stoppage. As for Teed, he is a Dana White’s Contender Series veteran who comes to Bellator after a knockout win in his last fight for CFFC. While Teed could land the knockout blow, all signs point to Mowry to win this fight, and he will more than likely do so by stoppage again.
- Overall, this looks to be one of the deeper Bellator cards we’ve had in a while, so dig into the prelims and see if you can find some value in some of the more unknown talents.
