PFL Champs vs Bellator Champs Betting Preview
MMA WagerTalk handicapper Andy Lang gives his PFL Champs vs Bellator Champs predictions and picks for February 24th! The main card starts up at 3:00pm ET from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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PFL Champs vs Bellator Champs Main Event Info
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PFL Champs vs Bellator Champs Predictions
Abdullah Al-Qahtani -1450 v Edukondala Rao +850'
There's not much value in betting this fight outside of parlaying it, but Qahtani should' run through Rao. Rao has this strange Tae Kwon Do style, but he's fought nobody of note, and he's only fought in leagues I've never heard of and he lost his last fight to a' guy making his professional debut. Qahtani has the much better striking and should''
piece him up easily on the feet. He couldn't finish David Zelner in his last fight, but'Zelner is a much better fighter than Rao, and Zelner was pretty beat up at the end.'Qahtani will win, probably by knockout.
Claressa Shields -455 v Kelsey DeSantis +350
PFL really wants Shields to win this as they signed her years ago, and it was apparent her boxing skills didn't translate to MMA skills as she went 1-1 against terrible competition.
She went back to boxing for a few matches and is now fighting Kelsey DeSantis who fought in 2013, took 10 years off and came back and won on a hail mary punch when she was losing badly. The way to beat Shields is to wrestle, and DeSantis hasn't shown any signs of that.
On top of that, Shields is really big. So big, that they moved this fight to a catchweight at 165 pounds, and DeSantis last weighed in at 145.
This fight was made for Shields to get a win, I think her striking overwhelms DeSantis early, and I love that under 2.5 rounds is +170. DeSantis's strikes won't scare Shields in the slightest, she will close the distance and her strikes will be too much.
AJ McKee -305 v Clay Collard +245
It's the wrestling from McKee that makes him a -305 favorite, and although I agree that McKee should be a favorite, this line is really big.
We just watched OAM clinch, and wrestle his way to a win over Collard, and I didn't think OAM looked great in that fight.
It was boring to watch, but it was obvious that Collard didn't have the skill or the knowledge how to avoid the wrestling, and I have to believe that McKee is going to be as good if not better in this fight.
If Collard can make it a boxing-only match, he has a chance, and with this being only three rounds I wonder if McKee is going to even attempt to trade strikes with Collard for very long.
I don't think I will bet a side on this fight, but betting this fight to go the distance might be a solid wager. McKee controls guys well, but four fights in a row for him have gone the distance and I could see this one going all three rounds.
Biaggio Ali Walsh -1000 v Emmanuel Palacio
Walsh is the grandson of Muhammad Ali and PFL has big plans for him. They have given him some really bad amateur fighters as opponents, and he's run through all of them.
Walsh has legit power and he's a real fighter who is coming up slowly, and this is his first professional fight even though he has seven amateur fights.
Palacio has had one fight, and even though he won it, he's not in Walsh's league. Walsh was supposed to fight someone else, but he pulled out so they grabbed this guy as a sacrificial lamb.
Walsh will demolish this guy on the feet and probably get the early finish as he's knocked out his last 6 opponents, all whom have more experience in the ring than Palacio.
AJ McKee -305 v Clay Collard +245
It's the wrestling from McKee that makes him a -305 favorite, and although I agree that McKee should be a favorite, this line is really big.
We just watched OAM clinch, and wrestle his way to a win over Collard, and I didn't think OAM looked great in that fight.
It was boring to watch, but it was obvious that Collard didn't have the skill or the knowledge how to avoid the wrestling, and I have to believe that McKee is going to be as good if not better in this fight.
If Collard can make it a boxing-only match, he has a chance, and with this being only three rounds I wonder if McKee is going to even attempt to trade strikes with Collard for very long.
I don't think I will bet a side on this fight, but betting this fight to go the distance might be a solid wager. McKee controls guys well, but four fights in a row for him have gone the distance and I could see this one going all three rounds.
Thiago Santos -122 v Yoel Romero +102
All you have to know about this fight is that the over 2.5 is -220. This could be a very low-volume striking fight as these guys are past their prime, and slow.
Romero just got beat up bad by Nemkov, but he somehow survived and went the distance so we know he can still take a punch.
This will be Santos's first fight since testing positive for an illegal substance so who knows what shape he's in.
If Nemkov couldn't finish Romero, I don't think Santos can, and the only way Romero finishes Santos is on the ground I believe, but Romero is 46 years old now, and although It won't be the most exciting bet to make, but taking this fight to go the distance is the only thing I could bet on as I think it goes to the judges, and it could go either way.
Vadim Nemkov -500 v Bruno Cappelozza +380
This is one of my favorite theories in betting MMA and that's fading a fighter in their first fight after a failed drug test against a solid opponent and that's what we have here.
Cappelozza lost to Matheus Scheffel in June of 2022, and then had the rematch last April where he knocked out Scheffel early in round one, but uh oh…he tested positive and the fight got overturned to a no contest.
Now he has to try and fight the animal that is Nemkov without the help of the banned substance. Nemkov is so technical on the feet with punches and kicks and he's undefeated in Bellator.
Cappelozza was never the fastest guy in the world, but his power was great, but I don't see him being able to overpower Nemkov at heavyweight, and he's not going to be faster.
Nemkov is patient and he won't overextend himself to get the finish as he's great at just dishing out strike after strike to piece up his opponents, and I think that's what he does here.
Cappelozza will be swinging for the big knockout, but I don't think he'll get it. It's only three rounds so I like Nemkov by decision, but to be safe I would just use Nemkov as a parlay piece.
Jason Jackson -410 v Ray Cooper
Cooper's best days are behind him it looks like. He got beat by the corpse of Derek Brunson in November, and he looked out of shape and was exhausted by the end of the first round.
He likes to lunge in with strikes, and they have some power on them, but not what he used to have. Brunson has one of the worst chins in MMA, and Cooper couldn't knock him out. Brunson took him down and wore him down for the decision win.
He hadn't fought in almost a year and a half before that when he knocked out Brett Cooper who is not a PFL-caliber fighter, and before that, he lost to Carlos Leal so he hasn't had a quality win since 2021.
When Brunson took Cooper down, Cooper couldn't get up and had no cardio. That's a massive problem against Jason Jackson who is a relentless wrestler who doesn't stop with the takedowns and clinch.