Bellator 214: Fedor vs. Bader - Predictions and Picks

#5 Adel Altamimi vs. Brandon McMahan

Adel Altamimi (right) makes his Bellator debut on Saturday

This seems like an odd fight for Bellator to place on a tentpole main card – Altamimi is currently 7-5 in MMA and coming off a loss, while McMahan is currently 5-6, and neither man has fought in Bellator before. But it’s clearly a goodwill gesture to Altamimi, who is currently a coach as part of Jay Glazer’s Merging Vets and Players charity – which aims to link combat veterans with retired professional athletes to give both groups support.

Altamimi’s story is pretty wild; contracted by US Marines as a convoy driver in Iraq, he was captured by Al-Qaeda and witnessed the murders of his cousin and his best friend before Marines saved him at the last possible moment. Essentially, he’s experienced the kind of trauma that few other professional fighters ever have done.

Altamimi might not develop into a contender – his last loss actually came at the hands of Juan Archuleta – but I can’t see any way that Bellator would’ve given him a particularly tricky opponent in his promotional debut, and as it took me forever to even find any information on McMahan, and most of his fight footage is years old and of poor quality, I’m happy to pick Altamimi to win.

The Pick: Altamimi via first round submission