Raufeon Stots and Danny Sabatello reignite their rivalry on Friday night at Bellator 301, 11 months after the controversial ending to their first fight. Will it be revenge or repeat? Let’s take you through our Stots vs Sabatello prediction.
Bellator 301: Stots vs Sabatello Prediction
The two bantamweight stars met at Bellator 289 last December in the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix. Stots was the interim champion of the division going into the fight and won via a split decision to make it into the finals. But it’s not that simple, as we’ll outline in our Raufeon Stots vs Danny Sabatello prediction.
Raufeon Stots Preview
Thanks to Sergio Pettis’ withdrawal from the Bantamweight World Grand Prix last year, Stots was able to be crowned interim champion when he defeated Juan Archuleta in the quarter-finals.
That set up a fight with Sabatello that was tasty even before the two men got inside the cage to face each other.
The pair exchanged all sorts of insults in the build-up to their first fight and even had to be separated when they appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour.
Sabatello dominated much of the fight on the ground but the judges deemed that his wrestling hadn’t done much damage, whilst Stots’ striking left his fellow American bloodied.
Some felt that ‘Supa’ was perhaps fortunate to get the split decision and he was stopped in the final of the Grand Prix by Patchy Mix, his only fight since the win over his fierce rival.
Before that loss, he had been undefeated in his seven fights in the organization and will be looking to get back to winning ways.
He lacks true knockout power, which showed in the fact that he wasn’t able to stop Sabatello, and most of his victories in MMA come via decision.
There is a reason that he’s ranked number two in Bellator though, and his ability to pick up wins could feature in our Stots vs Sabatello prediction.
Danny Sabatello Preview
Whilst the previous fight was pretty close due to neither man really getting on top, it was crazy that one judge gave the Italian Gangster all five rounds, despite not really landing many clean strikes.
He will have to do a lot better than that for anyone to even consider him for a win in the Stots vs Sabatello prediction. He is physically weaker than the former interim champion so could be outwrestled and Stots also has the advantage when it comes to striking.
Like his opponent, most of Sabatello’s victories do come by decision, though his most recent victory came via submission.
That was in a second-round win over Marcos Breno back in April, which got him back to winning ways after the loss to Stots. However, he has since followed that up with a second loss in three fights, getting submitted in the first round by Magomed Magomedov in July.
Before losing to this weekend’s opponent, the 30-year-old had gone 3-0 in Bellator and won his previous seven MMA fights.
This weekend also sees him return to his home city of Chicago, although he now fights our of Florida, and he might need a home crowd to boost his chances of a win.
Raufeon Stots vs Danny Sabatello: Supa Set For Second Win
The odds say this one is going to be close and there’s plenty of reason to back either man in our Stots vs Sabatello prediction.
Stots is three inches shorter than his rival but actually has a three-inch longer reach, making him an awkward opponent. He also fights as a southpaw, making him extra tricky.
Both men have strong wrestling games and it was actually Sabatello who did most of the groundwork in the first fight.
The problem was that he didn’t inflict much damage at all and that’s why two of the three judges gave it to Stots.
With the former interim champion having the extra dimension of being the better striker to add to his arsenal of weapons, it’ll be tough for Sabatello to find a way of winning.
Both men will be hoping to be better than they were in the first fight, to make their victory more emphatic than it was last time out and shut their rival up once and for all.
With Pettis and Grand Prix winner Mix facing for the bantamweight title in the co-main event, both of these men will be desperate to taste victory and put their names in the hat to be the next opponent for the champion, whoever that ends up being after Bellator 301.
The bookies are struggling to separate Stots and Sabatello going into their second fight and there isn’t much in the Money Line odds between them.
Sabatello seems to be the betting favorite according to the odds makers, but there isn’t too much in it and we’re going against that for our prediction.
- Raufeon Stots to win
- Decision victory
- Over 2.5 rounds
