RORY MACDONALD VS JON FITCH SET FOR APRIL BELLATOR EVENT

The Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix will continue to proceed together with the last quarterfinal bout to be reserved, 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 chooses Jon Fitch at 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 in their trilogy fight and Nieman Gracie upset Ed Ruth at the other quartefinal matchups completed so far, together with the Michael Page vs. Paul Daley fight set to take place 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 thus much in Bellator. In his first two Bellator fights, he looked like one of the best fighters in the world as he submitted Daley and then beat Lima more than five rounds to win the welterweight title. He then moved up in weight in his final bout when he took on Gegard Mousasi in his bid to become a rare Bellator double champion. However, MacDonald got crushed in that struggle, losing via second-round TKO. MacDonald will have had six months between the Mousasi and Fitch fights, therefore he should be good to go health-wise. But the fact that he took so much harm against Mousasi is worrisome. Then again, MacDonald was fighting up a weight class for the first time. At welterweight, he’s clearly one of the very best on the planet, and he even 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 profession. Now 40, Fitch is riding a five-fight win series at the moment which comprises a dominant win over Daley within his Bellator debut. At the same time, Fitch holds notable wins over Jake Shields and Yushin Okami during his latest win streak, and he was the PFL welterweight champion before signing with Bellator. Since becoming cut from the UFC in 2013, Fitch has gone 7-2 in WSOF, PFL and Bellator. He is no longer among the game’s elite welterweights such as he had been a decade ago, but he still has a solid wrestling base that can get him his hands raised.
That being said, this really is MacDonald’s fight to lose. He should have the takedown defense to keep the fight on the feet, and at the standup there’s no question MacDonald is the superior fighter. Fitch has not won a fight by knockout since 2006, therefore he seems to have no path to victory in this bout if he can not get it into the ground. Despite the reduction to Mousasi, I would nevertheless peg MacDonald around a -500 preferred to defend his belt against Fitch and move on into the next round of this tournament.
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