The Bellator World Heavyweight Grand Prix continues Saturday night in Chicago, IL — and we’ve got our picks in for this legendary card!
Bellator 198 goes down live from the AllState Arena in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday night, topped by a battle of legends. Those, of course, would be Frank Mir, and ‘The Last Emperor’ Fedor Emelianenko. Mir has been out of action just over two years thanks to USADA troubles in his old home, the UFC. Fedor, meanwhile, was last seen being finished off by tournament favorite Matt Mitrione, in his Bellator debut last year.
Who would advance in the Grand Prix on Saturday? Check out our staff member’s picks below!
| Danis vs. Walker | Gracie vs. Torres | Lovato Jr. vs. Harris | Sanchez vs. Sicilia | Fedor vs. Mir | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paarth Pande (38-22) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Eddie Law (38-22) | | | | |  |
| Mike Straus (36-24) | | | | | |
| Dan Doherty (35-25) | | | |  | |
| Jesse Gillette (34-26) | | | | | |
| Gabriel Gonzalez (32-28) | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (29-31) | | | | | |
| Mike McClory (28-32) | | | | | |
Not surprisingly, much of the night’s early action was a landslide when it comes to Cageside Press’ staff picks. All responding writers chose Dillon Danis to win in his MMA debut. It certainly helps his case when opponent Kyle Walker has lost his last two via first round submission. No one picked against the undefeated Neiman Gracie either, although opponent Javier Torres is 10-3 (1NC) and has never been submitted.
It was a clean sweep in our picks for Rafael Lovato Jr. as well, though that’s to be expected with formerly retired welterweight Gerald Harris coming off the couch on just a few days notice to fill in for John Salter.
With a co-main event featuring Emmanuel Sanchez and former UFC fighter Sam Sicilia, it felt like things might be a little more competitive. Yet only one writer sided with Sicilia, who is making the second appearance of his Bellator MMA run. Looks like most of our staff are buying into the UFC curse experienced by the likes of Benson Henderson.
That leaves the main event, and there, things were split right down the middle. Frank Mir? Fedor Emelianenko? Our writers couldn’t come to anything close to a consensus.
