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2) Fernando Gonzalez (23-13) vs. Curtis Millender (7-1)
Strikeforce and WEC veteran Fernando Gonzalez looks for his fourth win in a row as he meets 27-year old Curtis Millender. Should Gonzalez earn another victory in the Bellator cage, it’s possible he could leapfrog Paul Daley and become the next challenger to the winner of the upcoming title fight between Douglas Lima and Andrey Koreshkov on July 17th.
The 31-year old Gonzalez has remained undefeated since his Bellator debut last July, taking out the likes of Karl Amoussou, Karo Parisyan and Marius Žaromskis in the process, showing he can hang with top talent. Gonzalez has been very good at controlling the pace in his Bellator appearances. Millender suffered the first loss of his career in his last fight against Brendan Ward this past February at Bellator 134, Millender, he is a tall, rangy 170-pounder with good striking ability and athleticism. He likes to strike at a distance, using good punches and kicks in unison with movement to outwork opponents. His Bellator debut did not go to plan, as he originally was to face Michael Page but ended up fighting Brennan Ward in a losing effort. That loss broke his undefeated record, which included wins over TUF veterans James Chaney and Dom Waters.
Gonzalez has been on fire lately and can brawl with the best of them, but I think the athleticism, movement and length of Millender will be hard to overcome. Millender needs to bring the fight to the mat & not allow Gonzalez to settle into his rhythm to win this fight.
Prediction: Millender wins via Decision.
3) Eduardo Dantas (16-4) vs. Mike Richman (18-5)
In the co-main event former Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas tries to stop the momentum of top contender Mike Richman. This winner of this fight may very well be the next challenger for current Bellator bantamweight champion Marcos Galvao.
Dantas is primarily a jiu-jitsu fighter with 20 fights experience & trains at one of the best gyms in the world, Nova Uniao. , though his striking has improved a lot, he has phenomenal ground game & submission ability. After winning the title from Zach Makovsky Dantas defended his title twice against Marcos Galvao and Anthony Leone. He lost his title in a five-round war to Joe Warren in his last fight. Richman, a former Marine, is a striker with excellent power in both his hands and kicks. He can end the fight with just one punch. Since dropping to 135, he has won twice as he blasted through Ed West and Nam Phan, showing that he is a force to be reckoned with in the bantamweight division.
Richman has shown to be a force in 135-pound division thus far, but his weakness is definitely against grapplers, which makes Dantas a stylistic nightmare of a matchup for him. Richman will want to keep this fight on the feet and look for the knock-out but Dantas should be able to control the distance, take the fight to the ground, hold him there and eventually finish the fight
Prediction: Dantas wins via Submission.
4) Brandon Halsey (8-0) vs. Kendall Grove (21-14)
In the main event of the evening, Bellator middleweight champion Brandon Halsey looks to defend his title for the first time against Hawaiian MMA vet & TUF 3 Winner, Kendall Grove.
Halsey is a former NCAA Division 1 wrestler with great physical strength and submissions from top position. He is undefeated and has wins over wins over Joe Yager, Hector Ramirez, Brett Cooper and longtime champion Alexander Shlemenko, inside the Bellator cage. He claimed the title with an impressive finish of Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 126. He utterly dominated the Russian & submitted (RNC) him in mere 35 seconds, which established him as an elite middleweight in Bellator. Grove is a big middleweight, standing 6'6". He has decent striking which looks much better because of his reach, but basically he is a jiu-jitsu fighter. He is 2-1 in Bellator thus far, he lost against Brett Cooper while defeated Joe Vedepo and Christian M'Pumbu to get this title fight.
Grove’s only route to victory seems to be if he could keep Halsey at distance using his reach but Grove has never been known for maintaining and using range to his advantage consistently against his opponents. While Halsey will surely look for the takedown in this fight as he tends to dominate with his ground game. Grove may be more experienced but Halsey is on a roll & I think he will finish this fight before the final bell rings.
Prediction: Halsey wins via Submission.
