Bellator 215: Mitrione vs. Kharitonov - Predictions and Picks

Matt Mitrione faces Sergei Kharitonov in the main event of Friday's Bellator 215
Matt Mitrione faces Sergei Kharitonov in the main event of Friday's Bellator 215

#5 Brandon Girtz vs. Pedro Carvalho

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Veteran Brandon Girtz has an excellent wrestling game
Veteran Brandon Girtz has an excellent wrestling game

Another member of the SBG Ireland team, Portugal’s Carvalho is coming into this fight at 2-0 in Bellator, and to be honest he’s looked pretty good thus far. A back-and-forth win over Daniel Crawford opened his promotional tenure and he followed that with a quick guillotine choke of Luca Vitali in December, in a fight that lasted just 43 seconds.

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Surprisingly for an SBG fighter, Carvalho’s just as comfortable using his grappling as he is standing and striking – which makes sense in a way given he’s apparently only been with SBG for around a year. He appears to be relatively dangerous in all areas, although he’s also one of those fighters who’s far better offensively than defensively.

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Girtz meanwhile has been in Bellator for years. He debuted there in 2012 and has put together a solid 7-6 record, going as far as a fight with Michael Chandler last year – although Chandler dealt with him comfortably and submitted him with an arm triangle in the first round.

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He does have some strong wins on his ledger – Derek Campos, Melvin Guillard – but for the most part, he’s always been a fighter who loses to the better fighters he faces and wins against the lesser ones. An NCAA Division II All-American wrestler, Girtz is decent in all areas really, but doesn’t stand out in any either.

This is a winnable fight for Carvalho as I’m unsure of his ceiling, particularly as he’s training with a very good camp in SBG Ireland now, but he just doesn’t look as good an athlete as Girtz to me and I worry that the American will end up having a big speed advantage. It could be a close one but I’m going with Girtz.

The Pick: Girtz via unanimous decision

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Edited by Vikshith R
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