Bellator 228: Pitbull vs. Archuleta - Predictions and Picks

#4 Darrion Caldwell vs. Henry Corrales

Darrion Caldwell is one of the best wrestlers in MMA

It came as a massive surprise during the Bellator 226 broadcast when Josh Thomson suggested that Saul Rogers might be the best wrestler entered into the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix – evidently he forgot about the existence of Darrion Caldwell for a second. For those who don’t know, ‘The Wolf’ was a 2009 NCAA Division I wrestling champion, essentially making him one of the most credentialed wrestlers in the sport.

Caldwell’s MMA career thus far hasn’t been quite as successful, but he’s still done pretty well for himself. Debuting back in 2012, Caldwell beat everyone he faced using his grappling in his formative years – including a submission of fellow famed wrestler Joe Warren – only to fall prey to a shocking guillotine choke at the hands of the unheralded Joe Taimanglo.

That took some of the bloom off his rose, but Caldwell quickly rebounded, outpointed Taimanglo in a rematch and then captured the Bellator Bantamweight title from Eduardo Dantas soon after. A pair of losses to former UFC contender Kyoji Horiguchi have put paid to the idea of him as the best lighter weight fighter outside the UFC, but he’ll still be dangerous in this tournament.

Corrales is an interesting test for him in his first fight up at 145lbs in over a year; a rough and ready brawler, ‘OK’ (as in ‘OK Corral’, get it?) was last seen taking out super-prospect Aaron Pico, who may well be considered a busted flush at this point after a subsequent loss and his lack of inclusion into this tournament.

Overall, Corrales hits hard, he’s aggressive and he’s largely well-rounded. The problem for him here, though, is that he’s a jack-of-all-trades – and not the most technical one – up against a specialist in arguably the key area for success in MMA.

I’d be more worried for Caldwell if he’d never fought at 145lbs before, but he knocked out Noad Lahat there a year ago and it’s not like he was small for 135lbs. Essentially, I just can’t imagine Corrales fending off the takedown and staying off his back to do enough damage to take out Caldwell standing. This could become interesting if Corrales can stop a couple of early takedowns, but personally I don’t see that happening.

The Pick: Caldwell via unanimous decision