The Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix will continue to move together with the past quarterfinal bout to be booked, and I’ll give my thoughts on this new matchup in the present MMA odds and ends.
Rory MacDonald vs. Jon Fitch, Bellator
Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald will put his belt on the line from the quarterfinals of this Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix when he takes on Jon Fitch in a yet-to-be-named event set for April 27 at San Jose, California. Marc Raimondi of all MMAFighting.com broke the information. This is the fourth and final quarterfinal bout in the championship. Douglas Lima conquer Andrey Koreshkov within their trilogy fight and Nieman Gracie upset Ed Ruth at the other quartefinal matchups completed thus far, with the Michael Page vs. Paul Daley fight set to occur in February. The winner of MacDonald vs. Fitch will take on Gracie on that side of the bracket’s semifinals, while Lima will combat the winer of Page vs. Daley.
MacDonald (20-5) is 2-1 so far in Bellator. In his first two Bellator fights, he seemed like one of the best fighters on the planet as he submitted Daley and then beat Lima more than five rounds to win the welterweight title. Then he moved up in weight in his final bout when he took on Gegard Mousasi in his bid to become a rare Bellator double champion. But MacDonald got crushed in that struggle, losing via second-round TKO. MacDonald will have had six months between the Mousasi and Fitch fights, therefore that he should be good to go health-wise. But the fact he took so much harm against Mousasi is worrisome. Then again, MacDonald was battling up a weight class for the very first time. At welterweight, he’s clearly among the very best in the world, and he owns a dominant win over current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.
Fitch (31-7-1) has quietly made a run in the twilight of his career. Now 40, Fitch is riding a five-fight win streak at the moment which includes a dominant win over Daley within his Bellator debut. As well, Fitch holds noteworthy wins over Jake Shields and Yushin Okami throughout his latest win streak, and he was the PFL welterweight champion before signing with Bellator. Since getting cut from the UFC in 2013, Fitch has gone 7-2 in WSOF, PFL and Bellator. He’s no longer one of the game’s elite welterweights such as he was a decade ago, but he still has a solid wrestling foundation that may get him his hands raised.
That being said, this is MacDonald’s fight to lose. He must have the takedown defense to maintain the fight on the toes, and at the standup there’s no wonder MacDonald is the exceptional fighter. Fitch hasn’t won a fight by knockout since 2006, therefore he appears to have no path to victory in this bout if he can’t get it into the floor. Even with the reduction to Mousasi, I would nevertheless peg MacDonald about a -500 preferred to defend his belt against Fitch and proceed on into another round of the tournament.
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