Bellator Birmingham Preview and Picks

Bellator heads across the Atlantic for its Bellator Birmingham: Primus vs. Wilde event in England. The main event of the night is a lightweight battle between former champ Brent Primus and Tim Wilde. While this card’s main event may show whether Primus’ run to the title was a fluke or not, the rest of this card can largely be ignored. The sportsbooks have largely ignored this card as the only available odds are on the main event.

Brent Primus (8-1, -365) vs Tim Wilde (12-3, +255)

Tim Wilde makes his Bellator debut, and Scott Coker and the promotion were not shy about feeding him to the wolves. This is a huge step up in competition for Wilde, which is why the line heavily favors Primus. Wilde has won three straight fights over the last two years with a variety of KO and decision wins. Brent Primus is a former champ having won the belt after Michael Chandler had to quit due to injury. The two fought again, and Chandler got the UD win. With that said, Primus was 8-0 prior to the loss and is still considered a top contender in the division.

For this fight, I don’t see how Wilde has any chance of winning other than a lucky strike. Primus is the toughest competition Wilde has faced in his career and Brent is a better overall fighter. In all three of Wilde’s losses, he has been stopped. I believe that will happen in this fight as well. Primus by KO at -365 is the safe play here.

Pedro Carvalho (9-3) vs. Derek Campos (19-8)

Carvalho has gone 2-0 since joining Bellator and fights in both the lightweight and featherweight divisions. In his career, five of his nine wins have come via submission. Derek Campos is a longtime vet and has been in Bellator since 2012. He’s 8-6 overall with the company but has dropped his last two fights as it looks like the rigors of a long MMA career may finally be catching up to him.

I would expect Campos to be the betting favorite for this contest, but it should be closer than his last fight in which he was a -475 favorite and dropped a split decision. As for the winner, I’m taking Campos to get back on track because if he does not get the victory, his long career with Bellator may be in jeopardy.

Fabian Edwards (6-0) vs. Falco Neto Lopes (11-9)

Lopes makes his Bellator debut on Saturday after fighting in numerous different promotions. Lopes has alternated between wins and losses over the last five years and last fought in June 2018. Lopes has suffered six submission losses in nine defeats. Fabian Edwards is from Birmingham and will have the local crowd behind him. Edwards last fought in February when he defeated Lee Chadwick via UD. This is Fabian’s second fight with Bellator,

Bellator did a great job putting someone in there that Edwards can beat in front of his hometown fans. Edwards will be a huge favorite, and I’m taking Edwards to win via submission over Lopes.