Bellator 179: Daley vs MacDonald Predictions

worldofmma1
May 17, 2017
8 min read

As we all know this Friday it is Bellator 179 and in the main event former title challenger Rory MacDonald is fighting former UFC fighter Paul Daley.

Rory MacDonald signed with the Bellator on August 26, 2016 after the completion of his UFC contract, this decision shocked many people and fans but ultimately everybody accepted that this is the new stage of his life and career.

While Rory has been having epic battles in the UFC, Paul Daley has had epic knockouts in the Bellator so after the announcement of MacDonald's signing we knew eventually that these two will fight each other in the future, it happened sooner than we thought and we are not angry about it.

Without further ado thes are my picks for Bellator 179:

Salih Kulucan (4-5-0) vs Diego Barbosa (2-1-0)

Cannot say that I know much about these two guys, they are both newcomers in the Bellator and have quite weak records. Salih Kulucan is a 24 year old bantamweight from London, England training out of MMA Terror squad while Diego Barbosa is also from England and he is riding a 2 fight win streak. Not particularly an interesting match I must say but I have to give the nod to Diego Barbosa due to the momentum he is having

Marcin Prostko (4-3-0) vs Mike Shipman (9-1-0)

Bellator prelims are not known for the wow factor and this fight proves it, it is a fight between Polish "Mad Boy" Marcin Prostko and Mike "Sea Bass" Shipman and I have to say that this is a bit of a missmatch. Prostko is riding a 3 fight losing streak while Mike Shipman is on a 9 fight win streak with 9 finishes. My pick here is definitely Mike Shipman.

Lukasz Parobiec (12-6-0) vs Neil Grove (12-8-0)

Neil Grove is a fighter that I am more familiar with because he fought a lot of fairly known fighters and had some success with it. He finished Alexey Olynik in under a minute at a Bellator event in 2010, he fought Rob Broughton early in his career and suffered his first loss, he fought Todd Duffee in 2012 and got finished 34 seconds into the first round and he fought Shamil Abdurakhimov in 2013 and lost a decision of course. Now his opponent has been far more active recently and is coming of a TKO loss. This is a fight between fairly old two fighter that will probably end in a TKO finish and my pick is Lukasz Parobiec.

Jeremy Petley (10-8-0) vs Chase Morton (6-3-0)

Riding a 4 fight losing streak Jeremy Petley is a 32 year old Canadian who is fighting Chase Morton, Englishman making his second appearance for Bellator. His first fight for the company came at Bellator 158 headlined by the man who is headlining this event as well, Paul Daley. Morton got submitted in the 3 round of that fight by a rear naked choke and he has not fought since, he is a knockout artist having all of his wins end via TKO except one. Jeremey Petley on the other hand is a bit different because he got finished in every single of his losses except one with a mixture of knockouts and submissions. Needless to say, I got Chase Morton in this one.

Fabian Edwards (0-0-0) vs Rafal Cejrowski (2-0-0-)

Making his proffessional debut, Englishman Fabian Edwards went 4-0 as an amateur with 4 first round knockout finishes. In his first amateur fight he knocked out his opponent in 4 seconds, which is quite impressive. But his opponent is an undefeated fighter as well. Rafal Cejrowski went 4-0 as an amateur as well with 3 TKO finishes and is now 2-0 as a proffessional. This fight could be quite interesting, both fighters push for finish in their fights and are young, hungry up and comers. I got Rafal Cejrowski in this one but I wouldn't be surprised if Fabian Edwards pulled it off.

Umer Kayani (4-3-0) vs Nathan Jones (10-5-0)

4 wins and 3 losses is not that good of a record but Umer Kayani is riding a 4 fight win streak with 4 submission finishes. Now that of course means he lost his first 3 fights but he is still undefeated since 2012. Nathan Jones on the other hand is an English fighter that is 6-1 in his last seven fights which is pretty impressive. He has five finishes in those seven fights and is a much more active fighter than his opponent. I feel like he will be able to defeat Umer and go on another win streak, I pick Nathan Jones.

Jamie Powell (6-1-0) vs Amir Albazi (9-0-0)

Now this is a fight I am a bit interested in. Why? Because I always enjoy watching up and comers fight each other, they are hungry to succeed and usually try their best to give us a good fight. Amir Albazi is one of those fighters, having a record of nine wins and zero losses with nine finishes, he could be a huge Bellator star in the future. He has both submission and stand up skills and he is only 23 years old, fighting out of gym called London Shootfighters, home of UFC fighters Jim Wallhead, John Hathaway and Bellator superstar Michael Page. His opponent though is not a cakewalk, Jamie Powell is a 24 year old English fighter making his Bellator debut, he lost his last fight due to a third round submission but other than that has been perfect in his professional career. Regardless, my pick is Amir Albazi and I feel this young man will be a big name in the future.

Stav Economou (17-5-1) vs Dan Konecke (7-9-1)

"Crazy Bear" Stav Economou is a 30 year old Heavyweight fighter that has fought in organizations all over the world. This friday he is making his Bellator debut against another debuting fighter Dan Konecke. Stav Economou has fought fighters like Phil De Fries and Damian Grabowski in the past and actually has a win over a co-headliner of this card Linton Vassell. Dan Konecke on the other hand had a quite dissappointing carrer that consisted mostly of losses, he is fighting the biggest name yet so far in Stav Economou and if he manages to beat him it will be his biggest win yet. I don't think he will be able to do it though as I think Stav will defeat him.

Jay Dods (6-0-0) vs Alfie Davis (7-1-0)

This is a rematch of a fight that happened in 2013, it was an amateur fight in which Alfie Davis won a majority decision. That is going to give extra motivation for undefeated professional Jay Dods to get his revenge against a man who beat him 4 years ago. These two lightweight fighters are both riding impressive win streaks, Alfie Davis is on a 5 fight win streak with 4 finishes and Jay Dods is on a 6 fight win streak with 5 finishes. These two fighters know each other and their fighting style so it could be a fun scrap. I think "The Prodigy" Jay Dods will be able to get his revenge and beat Alfie Davis.

Kevin Ferguson Jr. (0-1-0) vs Darryal Griffin (0-0-0)

Son of Kimbo Slice(RIP), Kevin Ferguson Jr. made his Bellator debut in November last year, he was unsuccessful in his first professional MMA fight and he got submitted in the second round of his fight via guillotine choke, he is looking to make a better impression this time and vowed to have improved himself tremendously for this fight. On the other side stands Darryal Griffin who is making his professional debut having 2 wins and 2 losses as an amateur. He is mostly unknown in he MMA world and is looking to steal off some recognition from his opponent by beating him this friday. Honestly, this is a toss up but I am going to go with "Baby Slice" Kevin Ferguson Jr.

Dan Edwards (14-14-0) vs Alex Lohore (11-1-0)

Interesting prospect Alex Lohore is a 27 year old French fighter making his second apperance in Bellator. He was successful in his first fight, having submitted former UFC fighter Colin Fletcher in the second round via rear-naked choke. He is fighting Dan Edwards, man who is only 2 years older than him but has 16 more fights than Alex does. Dan hasn't had a really mentionable career, he once went 1-8 in the span of 2013-2015 but has rebounded that with 2 wins in his last 2 fights. I still don't think that will help him against Alex Lohore. I pick Alex in this one.

Cheick Kongo (26-10-2) vs Augusto Sakai (9-0-1)

Cheick Kongo is a man who needs no introduction having fought for the UFC for 7 years and now 4 years for Bellator. He is 8-2 in his Bellator career, losing only to King Mo and former undisputed Heavyweight champion Vitaly Minakov. He is known to many mma fans as a bit of boring fighter who likes to wrestle his way to a decision, which mostly has been going in his direction. A finish would do him a great favour though as there is currently no Heavyweight champion in Bellator and the title is up for grabs. In his way stands undefeated 25 year old Brazillian Augusto Sakai who will be making his 5th Bellator appearance this friday. He has 4 wins and 1 draw in the company and a win against Cheick Kongo would certainly propell him into a future title contender. I feel like Cheick Kongo will be able to implement his tactic and grind out a decision win.

Liam McGeary (12-1-0) vs Linton Vassell (17-5-0)

Time for the co-main event of the card. These two men are both popular Bellator fighters, Liam McGeary is a former Light Heavyweight champion while Linton Vassell fought for the belt unsuccessfully in the past against Emmanuel Newton.

This is an interesting fight that I am quite interested in, Liam fought 3 months ago where he defeated Brett McDermott via TKO in the second round while Linton Vassell is riding a 2 fight win streak with wins over Francis Carmont and Emmanuel Newton. A win for one of these guys would set them up for a potential title contender fight and we all know that their goal is to once again for that title held by Phil Davis who is defending his belt next month against a new Bellator fighter Ryan Bader. I feel like McGeary has more tools and skills out of the pair and will be able to win this fight, it will be a tough one though.

Paul Daley (39-14-2) vs Rory MacDonald (18-4-0)

Now this is the fight you will probably be watching this event for, the debut of Rory MacDonald vs Paul "Semtex" Daley. Paul Daley is riding a massive hype after demolishing Brennan Ward in a KO of the year candidate at Bellator 170 while Rory MacDonald is coming off back to back losses against Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson and Robbie Lawler. It will be interesting to see which Rory MacDonald will show up at Bellator 179, pre Robbie Lawler fight Rory or post Robbie Lawler fight Rory because those are two different guys I feel. That Robbie fight took a big chunk of him and it is understandable that he wasn't going to be the same in the Wonderboy fight. My biggest question is what will Rory look like in the Paul Daley fight? Nobody knows and everybody is interested in it, I know I am and I will be tuning in to see what will happen this friday. We all ultimately want a great fight which these two men have had their fair share of and I am sure they won't disappoint us. As for my pick I have to go with my guts and pick Rory MacDonald, I think he will do the same thing to Daley that Douglas Lima did and will win a decision.

That would be all, this is my first prediction article that I have put up on this site. I will be having prediction of all UFC, Bellator events and sometimes I will put up predictions of Rizin FC, One FC etc. I hope you guys liked this article and put up your own predictions in the comments.