Bellator 220 will close out the first round of the Welterweight Grand Prix and Cageside Press has their picks set.
| Staff Writers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Payne (66-21) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Drake Riggs (63-24) | |  | | | |
| Steve King (58-23) | | |  | | |
| Heath Harshman (62-25) | | | | | |
| Paarth Pande (61-26) | | | | | |
| Joe McDonagh (59-28) | | | | | |
| Mike Straus (56-31) | | | | | |
| Josh Evanoff (56-31) | | | | | |
| Dan Doherty (55-32) | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (55-32) | | | | | |
| Gabriel Gonzalez (55-32) |  | | | | |
| Shawn Bitter (54-33) | | | | | |
| Mike McClory (34-21) | | | | | |
| Jesse Gillette (47-34) | | | | | |
| Alex Scaffidi (43-32) | | | | | |
| Adam LeBarr (22-18) | | | | | |
| Ryan Fortune (16-12) | | | | | |
| Keith Shillan (15-13) | | | | | |
| Davidson Baker (5-5) | | | | | |
The main event of Bellator 220 will feature Rory MacDonald defending his belt against Jon Fitch with the winner moving on to the semifinals of the Welterweight Grand Prix. MacDonald recently tried to capture the middleweight title in addition to his welterweight belt, but was soundly defeated by Gegard Mousasi. Fitch is on a five-fight win streak with his most recent bout being his promotional debut, a win over Paul Daley. MacDonald was unanimously picked.
Ilima-Lei MacFarlane will defend her flyweight title against Veta Arteaga in the co-main event. MacFarlane is undefeated at 9-0 with two defenses of her title, most recently against former UFC title challenger Valerie Letourneau. Arteaga is 4-2 in her Bellator career with wins in her last two fights. MacFarlane was also unanimously picked.
Former champions Phil Davis and Liam McGeary face off in a rematch. Since losing his title to Ryan Bader, Davis is 2-1 having lost his last bout against Vadim Nemkov. McGeary has struggled since Davis defeated him in a title fight in 2016. The Brit is 2-2 but won his last fight against King Mo Lawal. 16 of 18 writers picked Davis.
Former UFC champ Benson Henderson takes on up-and-comer Adam Piccolotti. Henderson started his Bellator career at 1-3 but recently turned things around with a pair of solid victories. Piccolotti is 11-2 in his career and bounced back from a two-fight skid recently with two consecutive victories. 14 of 18 writers picked Henderson.
Opening the main card will be top prospect Gaston Bolanos against Nathan Stolen. Bolanos is 4–1 in his career with all four wins coming by stoppage, three of which were in the first round. Stolen is 8-4 and has just one win in his last four appearances. All but one writer picked Bolanos.
