The Bellator 144 event scheduled for the Mohegan Sun this Friday is headlined by middleweight champion Brandon Halsey (9-0) as makes his second title defense. He is facing the challenge of Brazil’s Rafael Carvalho (11-1) in the five-round main event.
Look for Halsey to be favored in this fight, as the powerhouse wrestler made short work of one-dimensional Alexander Schlemenko to grab the belt then showed he can go long in an impressive fourth round stoppage of veteran Kendall Grove. Carvalho is tall and aggressive, and though he has a loss on his record, that blemish came way back in December of 2011, in his very first fight.
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The co-feature is in the welterweight division as Brennan Ward (11-3) faces off against Dennis Olson (14-9). This will be Ward’s 11th fight with Belaltor, and he has gone 7-3 overall. He is riding a two-fight winning streak that has seen him start off 2015 at 2-0. Olson has been plagued by inacitvity over his career, as he sat out all of 2012 and 2014. He has fought two times in 2015, going 1-1. His last outing was in July of this year when he lost to Paul Daley. Ward appears to be on Bellator’s list of makretable fighters, and Olson is basically here to provide a showcase.
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England’s undefeated welterweight Michael Page (8-0) will face Charlie Ontiveros (6-3). Page has the prospect label already pinned to his name, and the 6 ft. 3 in. welterweight brings an exciting all out style that is a crowd pleaser. He has already run his record to 3-0 in Bellator’s cage, and he has looked good. This would appear to be a match made to feature Page, as Ontiveros has been alternating wins and losses for the last three years and he is making his debut for Bellator in this fight. Though he is coming off a win, he is basically a .500 fighter after winning his first three pro fights in a row, and that puts Michael Page at a higher level overall.
Bellator will open the SpikeTV broadcast with a Featherweight battle between stand-outs from Japan as Isao Kobayashi (18-2-4) faces off agaist Goiti Yamauchi (18-2). Yamauchi is still just 22 years old, and he has gone 4-1 in Bellator fights, with his lone loss coming by way of decision to Will Martinez back in February of 2014.
Yamauchi not only has a lot of fights on his resume for a young fighter, many of his early fights were fought in Brazil. Kobayashi is also young at 26 years old and his resume includes coming up through Pancrase, one of Japan’s oldest established fighting companies. Kudos to Bellator for putting this match on, as the two top level prospects from Japan rarely meet outside of their home country. The foreign venue adds to the gravitas for both camps.
The live card sees 13 fights in all, and though most are non-descript in terms of name recognition and fame in the MMA world, sometimes the undercard produces the best fights. It’s disappointing that Belaltor did not choose to include any fights from the women’s divisions on this card. Check out all the main card odds for the Bellator 144 event set to air on SpikeTV.
