Bellator 209: Pitbull vs. Sanchez - Picks and Predictions

#6 Preliminary Card

Khonry Gracie - the son of the legendary Royce - fights on the prelim card

As is usually the case with Bellator preliminary fights, Bellator.com will be streaming 12 matches before the main card begins, but practically all of them feature local talent making a start to their MMA careers.

This time we have one exception, though. Khonry Gracie – the son of the original UFC champion and MMA pioneer Royce Gracie – will be making his second appearance in the Bellator cage. His previous fight saw him defeated by the unheralded Devon Brock – who was also making his professional debut – and he’s faced with someone equally unnotable here in Israeli fighter Avi Baron.

The Gracie family has found success hard to come by in the modern era of MMA – family members Roger, Rolles and Ralek all saw difficulties inside the cage despite extensive backgrounds in submission grappling, as you’d expect, with Neiman Gracie being the lone exception.

Can Khonry follow in the footsteps of Neiman? Or will he struggle too? He didn’t look at all impressive against Brock, worryingly, but coming from the Israeli MMA scene Baron is likely a step below that level and that could allow Gracie to capitalise. It’s a reason to watch the prelims for this show, at least.