I’ve spent the last few days researching Bellator 175 and after watching tons of footage on all the fighters competing on this event I’m now really excited to see how these fights play out. This should be one of the best Bellator events in a long time because there are several matchups which should be very competitive. Most people are looking forward to the main event clash between Rampage Jackson and King Mo, but I can assure you that the rest of the card is where we are likely to see some exciting action.
The fight between Jake Roberts and Steve Kozola has been flying under the radar this week, but I’m really excited to see how this matchup plays out because they are two excellent young fighters who have a bright future in the sport. Bellator have made a lot of moves lately signing high profile free agents such as Rory MacDonald, Chael Sonnen and Fedor Emelianenko, but it’s young, hungry, talented fighters like Roberts and Kozola who will help Bellator gain credibility as a serious MMA organization.
We also get to see the return of PRIDE and Strikeforce veteran, Sergei Kharitonov. Sergei did not get a chance to show what he can do in his Bellator debut, but I believe we’ll see him make a statement at Bellator 175 by putting in a dominant performance against Chase Gormley.
In the co main event we see Marcos Galvao move up to Featherweight to take on Emmanuel Sanchez in a fight that is guaranteed to spark fireworks. Sanchez is never involved in a boring fight and Galvao always brings it.
The betting lines for Bellator 175 start to close in around 4 hours so make sure you lock in our betting tip soon.
Betting Tip 1: Sergei Kharitonov to beat Chase Gormley
[mpc_divider align=”left” lines_color=”#679f42″ lines_weight=”5″ padding_css=”padding:0px;” margin_divider=”true” margin_css=”margin-bottom:20px;”]Sergei Kharitonov has been forgotten about in recent years due to a lack of activity but you only have to take a look at some of his recent fights to see that the dangerous Russian Kickboxer has still got what it takes to compete at the highest level of the sport.
It feels like Kharitonov has been around forever, but at just 36 years old he’s still very young for a Heavyweight and there’s no doubt that the PRIDE and Strikeforce veteran has the skills to dominate Bellator’s Heavyweight division if he chooses to stay active.
With Fedor Emelianenko signing for Bellator recently and the promotion keen to beat the UFC to international growth in undiscovered markets, I’m wondering whether Scott Coker has matched Kharitonov up with an easy opponent like Chase Gormley in an effort to setup a potential superfight between Fedor and Kharitonov in Russia later on down the road. Western MMA promotions are yet to break into the Russian market, so a fight between Fedor and Kharitonov in Russian would be huge.
I don’t usually like to bet on Heavyweight’s as big favourites, but this bet carries a lot less risk than most Heavyweight fights because Chase Gormley is one of the few Heavyweight fighters who lacks KO power. He’s also extremely slow and extremely predictable. I believe we’ll see Kharitonov walk him down and pick him apart, before eventually winning the fight by knockout.
Reasons for placing this bet...
[mpc_divider align=”left” lines_color=”#679f42″ lines_weight=”5″ padding_css=”padding:0px;” margin_divider=”true” margin_css=”margin-bottom:20px;”][ultimate_icon_list icon_size=”18″][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-check” icon_color=”#679f42″]Sergei Kharitonov has an excellent chin for a Heavyweight, having only lost by KO 3 times in 29 pro fights. This is extremely impressive when you take into consideration the fact that Kharitonov fought in PRIDE, Strikeforce and DREAM for the majority of his career. He also holds notable wins over Alistair Overeem, Andrei Arlovski, Fabricio Werdum and Pedro Rizzo.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-check” icon_color=”#679f42″]Sergei Kharitonov has solid takedown defence.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-check” icon_color=”#679f42″]Chase Gormley has a predominantly Boxing based style of fighting but his hand speed is extremely slow and he telegraphs all of his power strikes. Gormley’s Boxing should not pose a threat to a striker on Kharitonov’s level.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-check” icon_color=”#679f42″]Chase Gormley is a Heavyweight, but he isn’t a power puncher. This is backed up by the fact that 4 out of his last 5 fights have gone the distance. Gormley throws pawing, sloppy punches that aren’t delivered with KO pop in them.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-check” icon_color=”#679f42″]Chase Gormley stands flat footed and doesn’t utilize any footwork.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-check” icon_color=”#679f42″]Sergei Kharitonov has a suffocating style of fighting and he’s very difficult to back up. He does a great job of keeping tight defence, walking his opponent’s down and cutting off angles. Kharitonov also does a great job of taking the centre of the cage and holding it.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-check” icon_color=”#679f42″]Chase Gormley is very slow and very predictable.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-check” icon_color=”#679f42″]Chase Gormley tends to panic, go into a defensive shell and turtle up when he gets hurt.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-check” icon_color=”#679f42″]Chase Gormley is predominantly a striker but he does not have the skills to hang with a guy like Kharitonov.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-check” icon_color=”#679f42″]Kharitonov has really good striking defence and excellent technical offence.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][/ultimate_icon_list]Risk Factors...
[mpc_divider align=”left” lines_color=”#ea5e50″ lines_weight=”5″ padding_css=”padding:0px;” margin_divider=”true” margin_css=”margin-bottom:20px;”][ultimate_icon_list icon_size=”18″][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-exclamation-triangle warning” icon_color=”#ea5e50″]Sergei Kharitonov has a low level ground game, even though he is difficult to take down.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-exclamation-triangle warning” icon_color=”#ea5e50″]Flash knockouts are more likely at Heavyweight.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-exclamation-triangle warning” icon_color=”#ea5e50″]Sergei Kharitonov suffered a devastating KO loss back in November.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][ultimate_icon_list_item icon=”Defaults-exclamation-triangle warning” icon_color=”#ea5e50″]Sergei Kharitonov has been inactive over the last few years.[/ultimate_icon_list_item][/ultimate_icon_list]Our Betting Tip
[mpc_divider width=”30″ lines_color=”#679f42″ lines_weight=”5″ padding_divider=”true” padding_css=”padding-bottom:0px;”]Sergei Kharitonov to win
Stake
[mpc_divider width=”30″ lines_color=”#679f42″ lines_weight=”5″ padding_divider=”true” padding_css=”padding-bottom:0px;”]3.5 Units
[3.5% of your bankroll]
Odds
[mpc_divider width=”30″ content_padding_divider=”true” lines_color=”#679f42″ lines_weight=”5″ padding_divider=”true” padding_css=”padding-bottom:20px;”]Decimal = 1.38 Moneyline = -263 Fractional = 19/50
Implied Probability
[mpc_divider width=”30″ lines_color=”#679f42″ lines_weight=”5″ padding_divider=”true” padding_css=”padding-bottom:0px;”]The bookies believe that Sergei Kharitonov has a 72% chance of beating Chase Gormley based on their current odds.
Our Probability
[mpc_divider width=”30″ lines_color=”#679f42″ lines_weight=”5″ padding_divider=”true” padding_css=”padding-bottom:0px;”]We believe that Sergei Kharitonov has an 80% chance of beating Chase Gormley based on our extensive research and analysis.
