Emanuel Newton vs Linton Vassell Betting Tip Prediction for Bellator 149
Emanuel Newton and Linton Vassell have fought once before in a fight that Vassell was easily winning until he started to gas out in the third round. This is a significant detail to take into account when trying to predict the outcome of this rematch, because their first fight was a 5 round title fight, whilst this rematch will only be for 3 rounds. If Newton and Vassell would only have fought for 3 rounds in their first fight, Vassell would have won easily. You can watch their first fight here: Emanuel Newton vs Linton Vassell Full Fight Video [You may need to use a VPN like Hide My Ass to view this video. Just switch your location to the United States and it should play just fine…] A lot has changed since the first time Emanuel Newton and Linton Vassell fought… Since their first fight, Vassell has moved to Florida to train with the Blackzilians full time, whilst Newton has often spoken about retiring and losing his passion for fighting. When a guy starts to talk about retiring, it’s almost always a sign that their performances will start to decline… Linton Vassell has improved a lot since his first fight against Emanuel Newton, whilst Newton seems to have done nothing to tighten up the massive weaknesses in his takedown defence and ground game, which cost him in his fights against Liam McGeary and Phil Davis. Vassell should easily be able to use his stronger wrestling and more technical Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to dominate the exchanges on the ground. Size and physicality will also play a factor in this fight, because Newton is small for a Light Heavyweight, whilst Linton Vassell is absolutely huge…
The big size difference in this fight means that Vassell will have huge a 7 inch reach advantage over Newton. Vassell also fights out of the Southpaw stance, which will make it even harder for Newton to get the better of the stand up exchanges. Newton’s style of striking is very basic, plodding and predictable, which will enable Vassell to land his powerful leg and body kicks with ease. These kicks are also a lot more difficult to block and evade, because they are thrown from the Southpaw stance.
Newton has very basic striking and really bad striking defence. I admit that he does have a great chin, but his technique is sloppy, he only throws a low volume of strikes and he fights with his hands down, which makes him very easy to hit. Vassell’s long reach and Newton’s lack of speed should make it easy for Vassell to land significant strikes on Newton from positions where Newton will be unable to counter.
Linton Vassell has a huge advantage when it comes to grappling, because Newton has poor takedown defence and a non existant ground game. Vassell should easily be able to take Newton down and dominate him on the ground. Newton has showed no signs of improving his wrestling and ground game since they last fought and I don’t see what he is going to be able to do to neutralize Vassell’s strong wrestling and submissions.
Newton is very green on the ground and leaves a lot of openings. He also doesn’t work that hard to scramble back to his feet when he gets taken down and he doesn’t pose any threat of a knock out or submission. Vassell’s conditioning should have improved since their first fight, because he is now training full time at the Blackzilians, so I am at least expecting a similar performance from him this time around.
I expect Vassell to win this fight by taking Newton down and dominating him on the ground. I am really surprised that Vassell is the underdog in this fight when you take into consideration how their first fight played out. Newton has absolutely no path to victory apart from picking up a flash KO win or a trademark Bellator robbery.
MY BETTING TIP: 3 Units [3% of your bankroll] on Linton Vassell to win at odds of 2.10 | +110 | 11/10
How can Bellator be more interesting than UFC?
Go Shamrock, go Dada, go Vassell!