3 candidates to win Bellator's Bantamweight Grand Prix
Bellator is set to kick off its Bantamweight Grand Prix this weekend in Honolulu.
Juan Archuleta and Raufeon Stots will meet for the interim title in one of two quarterfinal bouts scheduled for Saturday at Bellator 279, while Kyoji Horiguchi will square off with Patchy Mix on the other side of the bracket.
Additionally, Enrique Barzola will face Nikita Mikhailov and Jornel Lugo will meet Danny Sabatello on Friday at Bellator 278 in a pair of wild-card matchups. Bellator booked those fights after champion Sergio Pettis and James Gallagher withdrew from the tournament.
The winners of those two bouts will advance to the main eight-man bracket and take on Magomed Magomedov and Leandro Higo, respectively, in the quarterfinals in June.
Below, we look at the three fighters who have the best chance of going all the way and winning $1 million.
The safe pick: Kyoji Horiguchi
A former Bellator bantamweight champion, former UFC title challenger, and the current Rizin FF bantamweight titleholder, Horiguchi has all the accolades and name recognition needed to be considered the early favorite to win the grand prix.
His well-rounded skill set certainly backs up his current position. In fact, Horiguchi was less than two rounds away from recapturing Bellator gold in a December bout against Pettis before his opponent pulled off an unthinkable comeback in theScore's top knockout of 2021.
Horiguchi is a truly elite fighter with solid knockout power and impressive grappling, so he'll have no problem cruising past Mix in his opening-round matchup and eventually making it to the final.
The popular pick: Raufeon Stots
A lot of hardcore fans are giving the edge to Stots as the grand prix gets underway, and for good reason.
He's not as big of a name as Horiguchi (yet), but he has all the makings of a future Bellator champion. Stots is 5-0 in the promotion and 17-1 as a professional. His only loss is a 15-second knockout to current UFC contender Merab Dvalishvili in 2017.
Stylistically, Stots gives a lot of fighters problems. He's a high-level wrestler and a scrappy striker, and he can outlast almost anyone with his great cardiovascular endurance.
And as far as the tournament goes, he already owns a win over Magomedov. Don't be surprised if "Supa" runs through the field and becomes a well-known fighter in the sport.
The dark-horse pick: Danny Sabatello
Compared to Horiguchi, Stots, and many other competitors in the grand prix, Sabatello is a relative unknown in the MMA world. However, that doesn't mean he can't win.
Sabatello, heavily favored to beat Lugo and advance to the quarterfinals against Magomedov, has been a pro for less than four years. But as one of the better wrestlers at 135 pounds, he's someone who can make immediate waves. Sabatello is coming off a dominant upset win over former UFC standout Brett Johns in his Bellator debut last May.
Of course, Sabatello winning the $1 million would be considered an upset. But if there's anyone who can make a Cinderella run through the tournament, it's "The Italian Gangster."