This Saturday, May 17th, Bellator presents their 120th event , on PPV for the first time. The main event of the show features the Light heavyweight showdown between King Mo Lawal and Quinton Jackson. Right now, ‘Rampage’ Jackson is the favorite in the match at (-240) with the return on Lawal at (+200).
This match was to support the Eddie Alvarez vs Michael Chandler re-match for the Lightweight title, but that match came apart and was replaced by Michael Chandler vs Will Brooks for an interim title. That match sees Chandler as a prohibitive (-900) favorite over the late replacement Brooks.
Lawal and Jackson has been sold as a grudge match by Bellator, but the enmity between the two seems contrived. Rampage and King Mo’s attempts to build heat and be cross promoted on TnA wrestling were a woeful failure. Luckily the match is close, and though ‘Rampage’ is the favorite at the books, Lawal does have a chance to win the match.
Lawal’s career has been a disappointment after a lot of early hype. He dropped a fight early in his career to Rafael Cavalcante, but wins over Gegard Mousasi, Roger Gracie and Mark Kerr all gave him resume builders that set the expectations very high. He left the UFC before ever setting foot in the octagon , and he was signed by Bellator as a prospect with a lot of upside. Since then, he has disappointed, as his two losses to Emanuel Newton showed clearly he is not a championship level fighter. The first loss by KO can happen to anyone and may be excused, but in their second meeting he was unable to diversify his game-plan and he showed that his bag of tricks is not that deep.
As for Jackson, he is susceptible to being a flat and uninspired fighter when he is not properly motivated. It will be interesting to see if Jackson has already lost some edge in Bellator, where he is clearly in the second division to the UFC. If Jackson’s motivation are not yet a question, they may very well become one after this fight, as Jackson is sure to be unimpressed with the size of his PPV cut.
