BELLATOR 137: Halsey vs Grove - Preview and Picks

Bellator returns to the Pechanga Casino and Resort in Temecula, California, for Bellator 137 on Friday night (Sat, 4:30 AM IST). In the main event of the evening, Bellator’s Middleweight champion Brandon Halsey will defend his 185-pound title and will look to remain undefeated against UFC veteran Kendall Grove.

Here is my Preview of the Main Card & predictions for the entire Bellator 137:

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 4:30 AM IST):

Ben Reiter Defeats Benji Radach via KO/TKO.
Virgil Zwicker Defeats Razak al-Hassan via KO/TKO.
Joe Taimanglo Defeats JAntonio Duarte via Decision.
Julio Cesar Neves Jr. Defeats Jordan Parsons via KO/TKO.
Ricky Rainey Defeats Jesse Juarez via Decision.

Main CARD (Spike TV, 6:30 AM IST):

1) Darrion Caldwell (6-0) vs. Rafael Silva (22-4)

Kicking off the main card is a fantastic bantamweight bout, as standout wrestler & undefeated mixed martial artist Darrion Caldwell faces the stiffest test of his career, Bellator Summer Series tournament winner Rafael Silva. Rafael Silva has won 14 of his past 15 bouts, with the lone loss coming in a short-notice bantamweight title bout against Joe Warren.

Caldwell makes the drop to bantamweight for the first time in his career and will have a nice three-inch height and even bigger reach advantage going into this fight. With just six fights in his career, facing off with a former title challenger in Silva is a huge step up in competition. Caldwell is a wrestler and he is proficient at takedowns and controlling from top position. He has good ground-and-pound and positional grappling, though his submissions are underrated as well. Silva is a 26-fight veteran with a Brazilian jiu-jitsu base, good takedowns and great power. He can knock people out, though he is more of a brawler than a technical stand-up fighter Since coming to Bellator, he has gone 3-1, including earning a title shot. He had his 13-fight win streak snapped last year, when he lost to Joe Warren by unanimous decision at Bellator 118, but recently rebounded in a win over Rob Emerson this past October at Bellator 127

Darrion Caldwell and Rafael Silva is a tough pick for a few reasons. Primarily, the outcome depends on who dominates the grappling exchanges and lands the first takedown. Silva and Caldwell rely on a smothering top game to defeat their opponents & both guys look for the submission and the finish. I could see both guys finding ways to win this fight but I m slightly leaning towards Caldwell to deliver a Joe Warren like performance against Silva.

Prediction: Caldwell wins via Decision.