Bellator 217: Gallagher vs. Graham - Predictions and Picks

#4 Charlie Ward vs. Jamie Stephenson

Charlie Ward has won two in a row in Bellator

Another student of John Kavanagh at the SBG Ireland gym, Ward rose to fame in 2016 for perhaps the most unfortunate reason in MMA history – he defeated an opponent by the name of Joao Carvalho via TKO, and Carvalho later died due to injuries sustained in the fight. It’s probably to Ward’s credit that he didn’t give up on the sport there and then – many other fighters probably would’ve and for fair reason.

At any rate, a few months after the fight Ward found himself in the UFC but looked overmatched by both Abdul Razak Alhassan and Galore Bofando, both of whom finished him by TKO in the first round. Undeterred, Ward then moved to Bellator where he’s won two straight fights – including a controversial one that saw his teammate and cornerman Conor McGregor illegally enter the cage.

Ward appears to be a hard-hitting brawler with some takedowns and ground-and-pound in his arsenal, but his lack of experience and recent fight footage makes him a tricky fighter to judge. There’s only so much you can assume from two wins in Bellator against overmatched opponents with losing records, after all.

As for Stephenson, footage on the Durham-based fighter is very sparse, and with a record of 4-2 he’s not the most experienced either. From what I’ve seen, he’s very much a grappling-based fighter with some decent takedowns and clinch work, but his striking defense seems to be wanting. That’s worrying as while Ward appears to be one-dimensional, he does hit pretty hard.

Again, I can’t see that Bellator would want to book an Irish fighter in a truly difficult match at home, and so I see Ward fending off some takedown attempts before using his punches to take Stephenson out later in the fight.

The Pick: Ward via second round KO