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Bellator MMA returns Friday evening for its third event since restarting its promotion in late July. Bellator 242 saw Sergio Pettis win a unanimous decision over Ricky Bandejas in the main event, while Bellator 243 saw Michael Chandler stop Benson Henderson via first round TKO.
The promotion is back on Friday, August 21st with Bellator 244, 24 hours ahead of UFC’s Fight Night event. The main event of the Bellator card is Ryan Bader defending his light heavyweight championship against Vadim Nemkov. The fight was originally scheduled for May 9, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
DraftKings Sportsbook is offering up some betting splits information, which tells how the betting public is picking the card. They’ve got numbers on the four-fight main card, and the public is primarily backing the favorites. Three of the four fights have at least 72 percent of handle and 78 percent of bets on the favorite.
The exception is the heavyweight bout between Valentin Moldavsky and Roy Nelson. Moldavsky is a heavy favorite at -910, and while he is getting 66 percent of total bets, we have an even split in handle on the bout. The 28-year old Moldavsky is 9-1 as a pro and has won four straight bouts since joining Bellator. The 44-year old Nelson is 23-18 as a pro and has lost his last four fights. He’s 1-4 since joining Bellator after an eight-year career in UFC in which he was 9-10.
Here are your main card betting splits heading into Bellator 244.
Ryan Bader (-137): 72% handle, 78% bets
Vadim Nemkov (+110): 28% handle, 22% bets
Julia Budd (-1115): 85% handle, 93% bets
Jessy Miele (+610): 15% handle, 7% bets
Roy Nelson (+525): 50% handle, 34% bets
Valentin Moldavsky (-910): 50% handle, 66% bets
John Salter (-335): 87% handle, 79% bets
Andrew Kapel (+245): 13% handle, 21% bets
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