Bellator 170 staff picks: Who's picking 'dog Tito Ortiz to win his retirement fight vs. Chael Sonnen?

Bellator’s first big “tent pole” event of 2017 has arrived, and it features a pair of big-name veterans in the main event.

Bellator 170 takes place Saturday at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and the main card airs on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie.

In the main event, former UFC light heavyweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz (18-12-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) takes on three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen (29-14-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), who is making his promotional debut. Sonnen is a slight favorite in the fight, which will be Ortiz’s last before retirement. Of our nine MMAjunkie editors, writers and radio hosts, seven are picking Sonnen to get his hand raised.

In the co-feature, middleweight Ralek Gracie (3-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) will fight for the first time in nearly seven years when he meets Hisaki Kato (7-2 MMA, 2-1 BMMA). And though our readers are picking Gracie to win, it’s a clean sweep from our staff for Kato, who is more than a 3-1 favorite from the oddsmakers.

Also on the main card, Paul Daley (38-14-2 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) meets Brennan Ward (14-4 MMA, 9-4 BMMA) in what looks like a potential slugfest. All nine of our pickers are taking Daley to get back on track. Six of our nine pickers are taking Georgi Karakhanyan (26-6-1 MMA, 5-4 BMMA) over Emmanuel Sanchez (13-3 MMA, 5-2 BMMA) in their welterweight bout. And to open up the main card, lightweight Derek Anderson (14-2 MMA, 5-2 BMMA) is a unanimous pick over Derek Campos (17-6 MMA, 6-4 BMMA).

In the MMAjunkie reader consensus picks, Sonnen, Gracie, Daley, Karakhanyan and Anderson are the choices.

Check out all the picks above.

For more on Bellator 170, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.