Who will win the Bellator 218 main event between Emmanuel Sanchez and Georgi Karakhanyan?
Cole Henry, Host – MMA Scope Podcast
I’m going with Emmanuel Sanchez here. Despite his rather uninspiring performance in his recent title fight, he remains one of the top-ranked fighters in the division. Karakhanyan is a skilled journeyman but I think Sanchez is well rounded enough to win this fight wherever it goes.
Frank Hyden, Columnist – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
I’ll go with Sanchez by decision. I think this will be a close fight that Sanchez takes with a late takedown or knockdown in one of the rounds. It might even be a split decision, this just has the feel of a really close fight to me.
Sean Covington, Columnist – Covington’s Corner
Replacement fights are always the toughest to call. I have no idea who will be more ready. Georgi Karakhanyan stepping in for Ashleigh Grimshaw means he has absolutely nothing to lose which makes him dangerous but in theory, Emmanuel Sanchez should be more prepared. Sanchez is coming off of a decision loss while Georgi is inconsistent; I’ll go with Georgi by knockout in an upset victory.
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Michael Hiscoe, MMATorch Managing Editor
The first time Emmanuel Sanchez and Georgi Karakhanyan fought, it was a very close majority decision win for Sanchez. This is a short notice fight, but since they’ve fought before, I’m sure they’ll both be ready for each other. Both guys have likely replayed this fight over in their heads many times. Sanchez’s losses have mostly only come to top-level guys and I feel he’s one of the top featherweights outside of UFC right now. I also wasn’t quite as down on his performance against Pitbull as others were. I think Sanchez will get the win again with another decision, but perhaps not quite as close as last time.
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