Bellator 238: Budd vs Cyborg Odds, Picks & Betting Preview

• Cris Cyborg makes her Bellator debut and fights for the featherweight title
• Can Julia Budd defend her belt as a +300 underdog?
• Sergio Pettis also makes his promotional debut on the card

Bellator MMA is set for their first card of 2020 on Saturday, January 25 and they are doing so with a bang in Inglewood, California at The Forum.

Cris Cyborg is set to make her Bellator debut in the main event of Bellator 238 when she battles featherweight champion, Julia Budd for the belt. The co-main event sees a quarterfinal grand prix matchup as Darrion Caldwell takes on Adam Borics. The card also sees former UFC contender, Sergio Pettis making his promotional debut and the likes of Henry Corrales vs. Juan Archuleta and Aaron Pico on the card.

The main card airs live on DAZN at 10:00 pm EST.

Julia Budd vs. Cris Cyborg Odds

All odds as of Jan. 21.

Can Cyborg Become Grand Slam MMA Champion?

Julia Budd (13-2) is riding a very impressive 11-fight winning streak which also includes winning the inaugural Bellator featherweight championship and defending it three times. The Canadian has also fought in Invicta and Strikeforce. But, her only two losses came in her first four fights where she lost to Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes. Budd has notable wins over Germaine de Randamie, Arlene Blencowe, and Talita Nogueira.

Cris Cyborg (21-2 and one no-contest) is the former UFC, Strikeforce, and Invicta featherweight champion and is looking to add the Bellator title to become a Grand Slam champion. She’s coming off the decision win over Felicia Spencer in her last UFC fight to get back into the win column after the loss to Amanda Nunes. In her career, she has notable wins the likes of Holly Holm, Gina Carano, Leslie Smith, Yana Kunitskaya, and Tonya Evinger.

Tale of the Tape

This is two of the top three featherweights in the world and we finally get to see how good Julia Budd is. People have always wondered how Budd would do against the likes of Cris Cyborg and Amanda Nunes and we finally get to see.

In this fight, I suspect it will be standing for the most part where Budd has the better jab and movement but it is Cyborg who has the finishing power and I think that is what she will do.

I believe Cris Cyborg will attack the body and then go up to the head and hurt Budd in the second or third round and win by TKO to become the new featherweight champion. But, this will not be the last time these two square off in Bellator.

Pick: Cris Cyborg (-400)

Darrion Caldwell vs. Adam Borics Odds

Will Borics Stay Undefeated?

Darrion Caldwell (14-3) is the former Bellator bantamweight champion who moved up in weight to be a part of this featherweight grand prix.

In the opening round of the grand prix he edged out a decision win over Henry Corrales to snap his two-fight losing streak after dropping a submission loss to Kyoji Horiguchi for the RIZIN title and then most recently the decision loss to Horiguchi to lose his Bellator bantamweight title. Caldwell also has notable wins over Leandro Higo, Eduardo Dantas, Joe Warren, and Shawn Bunch.

Adam Borics (14-0) is the dark horse of the featherweight grand prix but he has the toughest test of his career against Caldwell. Borics is coming off a TKO win over Pat Curran in the opening round and before that knocked out Aaron Pico in what was his biggest win to date at the time. He has notable wins over Anthony Taylor, Teodor Nikolov, and Josenaldo Silva.

Tale of the Tape

This is a very interesting matchup as in Adam Borics’ fight against Aaron Pico he was taken down multiple times and Darrion Caldwell is a better wrestler than Pico. So, whether or not Caldwell will be able to take him down seems likely, but whether he will be able to hold him down is the question.

Borics has a lot of explosive power and I believe when it is standing he will land his patented flying knee and hurt Caldwell and finish him off via ground and pound to advance to the next round.

Pick: Adam Borics (-130)

Bellator 238 Main Card Odds

Here are the odds for the other fights that have odds available.