Bellator 198 MMA Betting Preview & Picks

A quarterfinal fight in the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix headlines Bellator 198, set for Saturday, April 28, from the AllState Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. The undercard action starts at 7:00pm Eastern time on ParamountNetwork.com, with the main card getting underway two hours later on the Paramount Network. The headline bout features Fedor Emelianenko and Frank Mir — so check out our MMA betting preview about the main event, along with information about the rest of the night.

Bellator 198 MMA Betting Preview & Picks

Main Card

• Fedor Emelianenko vs Frank Mir
• Emmanuel Sanchez vs Sam Sicilia
• Gerald Harris vs Rafael Lovato Jr
• Dillon Danis vs Kyle Walker
• Neiman Grace vs Javier Torres

Undercard

• Dan Stittgen vs Mark Stoddard
• R’Mandel Cameron vs P.J. Cajigas
• Tom Shoaff vs Mike Budnik
• James Bennett vs Dustin Stusse
• Matt Paul vs Brian Booth
• Joey Diehl vs Nate Williams
• Eric Wisely vs Morgan Sickinger
• Asef Askar vs Andrew Johnson
• Corey Jackson vs Adil Benjilany
• Tom Angeloff vs Sultan Umar
• Adam Maciejewski vs Robert Morrow

Fedor Emelianenko vs Frank Mir

Frank Mir, formerly a heavyweight champion in UFC, makes his Bellator debut on Saturday night — and this will be his first fight since 2016, when he was the headliner at UFC Fight Night 85. However, Mir has lost two fights in a row, so he is looking to use this as a stage for his return to prominence. He takes on Fedor Emelianenko, who made his Bellator debut against Matt Mitrione in his last bout, and took a knockout loss. Emelianenko has come to rely on his right hand to deliver knockout blows when he wins. That power almost helped him take down Mitrione in his Bellator debut, but Mitrione was able to evade real blows and deal a knockout of his own. The real question in this bout is what Mir will be able to bring after so long away form the sport. He should enjoy an advantage in the ground game, so expect him to try to get Emelianenko off his feet and win by submission. During his prime, Mir took on competition at a significantly higher level than what Emelianenko has faced. However, we are looking at a pair of fighters who are both past their prime — one coming off a loss, and the other coming off a pair of losses and a lengthy layoff. However, the heavyweight division often features fighters who remain strong as they continue to age. The winner of this quarterfinal round will still have an uphill road to climb to win the Grand Prix given the fact that Ryan Bader and Mitrione are also still alive in the bracket. MMA Betting Prediction: Mir wins by submission

Emmanuel Sanchez vs Sam Sicilia

The co-main event features a bout in the featherweight division, between Emmanuel Sanchez, one of the top Bellator featherweights, and UFC veteran Sam Sicilia. Sicilia debuted against Marcos Galvao and took down the former bantamweight champ by decision, ending a three-bout losing streak. Sanchez has won three bouts in a row, with two of those wins coming against former champions in Bellator. So we have the incoming UFC veteran coming to Bellator to turn things around, and we have the seasoned Bellator fighter looking to make his mark. Sicilia should be the favorite against Sanchez, thanks to his experience in UFC — and his win over Galvao was impressive. However, in Sanchez he takes on a fighter who knows how to earn points on the cards, and he has beaten Galvao himself, as well as former Bellator featherweight champ Daniel Straus and Georgi Karakhanyan. Despite losing to Pat Curran and Daniel Weichel on the cards, Sanchez is a tough fighter. He has picked up a great deal of experience in Bellator fighting, and that will help him avoid trouble on the ground against Sicilia. MMA Betting Prediction: Sicilia wins by decision