Bellator 284 Gracie vs Yamauchi - Main Card Odds, Predictions, Picks

• Yamauchi looks to make it three in a row with a main event win over Gracie

• Austin Vanderford is currently the biggest favourite on the main card at -200

• Ilima-Lei Macfarlane faces Muay Thai specialist Bruna Ellen in women’s flyweight bout

Neiman Gracie vs Goiti Yamauchi – Welterweight Main Event

The odds for this bout are provided by BET365. Click on the odds below to place a bet.

Neiman Gracie made the transition from BJJ to mixed martial arts back in 2013 and debuted for “World Series of Fighting” where he earned two submission wins before getting signed by Bellator.

It won’t come as a surprise to anyone that Neiman Gracie’s most common path to victory is by way of submission however his most recent win ended with a ground and pound knockout via elbows and punches in the first round of his fight vs Mark Lemminger.

All of Gracie’s losses came by way of unanimous decision with his first loss handed to him by Rory “Red King ” Macdonald, who fights in the PFL 2022 Welterweight semi finals this weekend.

Gracie’s opponent, Goiti Yamauchi, born in Japan but moved to Brazil with his family at a young age where he discovered and fell in love with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and kickstarted his mixed martial arts career on the regional scene.

Yamauchi is also a submission specialist and has won most of his fights by first round rear naked choke and just like his opponent, he has never been finished in his MMA career.

Yamauchi went the full distance with both Bubba Jenkins and Micheal Chandler who are prolific fight finishers but they were unable to stop him.

In a matchup like this between two elite jiu-jitsu practitioners they will likely cancel each other out in the grappling department and the better striker out of the two will likely win the fight.

Our Pick

Goiti Yamauchi to win by unanimous decision

Valentin Moldavsky vs Steve Mowry – Heavyweight Division

Former interim Bellator Heavyweight champion Valentin Maldovsky enters this bout coming off the second loss of his pro MMA career where he was defeated by Ryan Bader in the heavyweight title fight and main event of Bellator 279.

Although he fights at heavyweight, most of Moldavsky’s wins have come by way of decision and does not pose as much of a knock out or submission threat.

It is also noteworthy that Moldavsky once faced current top five UFC Light Heavyweight Magomed Ankalaev who handed him his first loss in his amatuer mixed martial arts career.

Steve Mowry is taking the biggest step up in competition so far in his mixed martial arts career although so far, no one has been able to put him in any real trouble and he has finished his last three fights by first round submission.

While Valentin Moldavsky has faced higher level opposition as of late, Steve Mowry’s submission ability is not something to take lightly and he definitely has what it takes to pull off the upset.

Our Pick

Steve Mowry to win by submission in round one

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane vs Bruna Ellen – Women’s Flyweight Division

Former Bellator women’s flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane find herself on the worst run of form in her mixed martial arts career so far with two unanimous decision losses in a row to Juliana Velasquez and Justine Kish.

“The Iliminator” Has a large arsenal of submissions at her disposal and she can finish fights at any given moment although her most recent win and title defense came by way of decision in a five round fight.

Bruna Ellen on the other hand is more of a Muay Thai specialist and tends to point fight rather than look for a knockout or submission, in fact all of her fights have ended by judges decision.

Ellen is coming off a split decision win vs Desiree Yanez but just like Macfarlane she recently lost a unanimous decision to Juliana Velasquez.

Macfarlane’s veteran experience will be the difference maker in this fight and she will look to be the first fighter to finish Bruna Ellen.

Our Pick

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane to win by submission in round two

Said Sowma vs Gokhan Saricam – Heavyweight Division

Said Sowma started his mixed martial arts journey with a Titan FC fight vs fellow Bellator 284 main card fighter Steve Mowry who defeated him by second round TKO in his debut.

Sowma would bounce back from the loss with a six fight winning streak before being signed by Bellator where he lost to Tyrell Fortune by unanimous decision in his promotional debut.

He would yet again respond well to the loss by stringing together two finishes in a row before suffering yet another split decision defeat to Davion Franklin in his most recent fight.

Turkish heavyweight Gokhan Saricam started off his career on the Belgian MMA scene and put together a record of 4-0 before getting signed by Bellator.

Saricam would lose his Bellator debut via second round kimura submission, also to Steve Mowry, before putting together a three fight winning streak.

After comparing both fighter records and analyzing their previous opponents, it’s clear to see that Souma faced tougher opposition throughout his career, and that small edge in experience should help earn the underdog a win.

Our Pick

Said Souma to win by unanimous decision

Austin Vanderford vs Aaron Jeffery – Middleweight Division

Austin “The Gentleman” Vanderford made the biggest step up in competition so far in his career in his most recent fight where he suffered his first pro mixed martial arts loss to veteran Gegard Mousasi via ground and pound TKO in the opening round.

Prior to that, the self proclaimed “Mr. VanZant” was on a fifteen fight winning streak including his amatuer fights with the vast majority of his recent fights taking place in Bellator.

His most recent win was a unanimous decision victory over Fabian ”The Assassin” Edwards, who happens to be the brother of current Welterweight title challenger Leon “Rocky” Edwards.

In 2018 he even got a second round submission win over Angelo Trevino on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series but was not offered a UFC contract for unknown reasons.

Vanderford tends to switch gameplans up according to his opponents style and has a variety of submission and knockout finishes on his record.

His opponent, Aaron Jefferey, also made a contender series appearance although much more recently than Vanderford.

He faced Caio Borralho on the show but ultimately lost a unanimous decision and was not selected to be part of the UFC roster as a result.

Jefferey’s other two losses came at the hands of two current UFC fighters, Sean Brady and Brendan Allen.

He is a fight finisher for the most part with many knockouts and submissions on his record but three of his last four fights ended in a judge’s decision.

Overall a very close matchup between two opponents with nearly identical styles and records so it will be interesting to see who gets the upper hand in this fight.

Our Pick

Austin Vanderford to win by unanimous decision