Bellator 228 Main Card Preview

Featherweights

Darrion Caldwell (13-3) vs. Henry Corrales (17-3)

Caldwell was riding a four-fight winning streak and was the undisputed Bellator bantamweight champion before he ran into Kyoji Horiguchi. They first met on New Year’s Eve 2018 at Rizin 14, where “The Wolf” fell at the hands of the Japanese champion via guillotine choke. The two rematched for Caldwell’s strap at Bellator 222 this past June, and the American dropped the belt on his home soil to Horiguchi via unanimous decision.

In both contests, the Alliance MMA representative got off to a fast start but ultimately had his gas tank fail him, slowing down as the bouts entered the deep waters and allowing Horiguchi to mount a comeback. Since the back to back defeats, Caldwell has decided to move up to featherweight -- hoping that not having a drastic weight cut will help sustain his energy longer -- and will be able to capture the organization’s gold once again.

Caldwell, a 5-foot-10 fighter with 74-inch reach, won’t be undersized at featherweight and might actually add some additional speed and power to his game. He isn’t known for his striking, but the southpaw uses his long range kicks to set up his wrestling attacks. He is one of the best wrestlers in the promotion, having won a NCAA Division I title. Caldwell has lightning fast entries, where he easily drives through his opponent’s hips and takes them to the canvas. The 31-year-old is incredible at winning scrambles and has some amazing top control. Once on top, he loves to batter his foe with elbows and advance to more dominant positions. He is a submission threat with five submission victories.

Corrales has made virtually everyone forget about a three-fight skid to Emmanuel Sanchez, Daniel Straus, and Freire by winning his last five bouts, with three wins by way of knockout. His brutal knockout of Aaron Pico is one of the more devastating in Bellator history.

The 17-3 Corrales throws caution to the wind, having a propensity for wanting a rock-em sock-em brawl in every matchup. The 33-year-old loves to stand his ground and fire off powerful blows, with his overhand right being his signature strike. When he gets clipped with a punch, his usual response is to duck his head and throw a tirade of haymakers with bad intentions. While this reckless style is a gamble and he gets tagged a lot due to a lack of head movement, his chin has held up well so far. When the Fight Ready MMA product stays composed, he attacks with kicks and body punches but neglects the techniques when a firefight presents itself. An underrated part of Corrales game is his dirty boxing. He does well at grabbing the back of his opponent’s head and firing off hooks and uppercuts with his free hand. He is a serviceable offensive wrestler, with strong takedown defense. “OK” looks to punish his opponents with ground strikes but does have six submission wins on his record.

Corrales has displayed some strong takedown defense in the past but hasn’t faced a wrestler nearly as accomplished as Caldwell is. I expect Corrales to make Caldwell work hard to get him to the mat, but he will lack the wrestling chops to keep Caldwell off his hips. If Caldwell’s limited gas tank improves by moving up a weight class, he should dominate the fight on the canvas. Caldwell wins by unanimous decision.

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