Bellator 194 staff picks: Who has the edge in Matt Mitrione-Roy Nelson rematch?

	Mitrione vs. Nelson	Campos vs. Freire	McGeary vs. Nemkov	Hardy vs. Julaton	Claxton vs. Perez
MMAjunkie readers’ consensus picks 2018: 15-12	Mitrione (63%)	Freire (74%)	McGeary (82%)	Hardy (83%)	Claxton (75%)
Matt Erickson @MMAjunkieMatt 2018: 17-10	Mitrione	Campos	McGeary	Hardy	Claxton
Simon Samano @SJSamano 2018: 17-10	Mitrione	Freire	McGeary	Hardy	Claxton
Dan Tom @DanTomMMA 2018: 17-10	Nelson	Freire	Nemkov	Julaton	Claxton
Mike Bohn @MikeBohnMMA 2018: 16-11 2014 Champion	Mitrione	Freire	McGeary	Hardy	Claxton
Steven Marrocco @MMAjunkieSteven 2018: 15-12	Mitrione	Campos	McGeary	Hardy	Claxton
Dann Stupp @DannStupp 2018: 15-12 2015 Champion	Mitrione	Freire	McGeary	Hardy	Claxton
Trent Reinsmith @TrentReinsmith 2018: 15-12	Mitrione	Campos	McGeary	Julaton	Claxton
John Morgan @MMAjunkieJohn 2018: 14-13	Mitrione	Campos	McGeary	Hardy	Claxton
George Garcia @MMAjunkieGeorge 2018: 15-12	Nelson	Campos	McGeary	Julaton	Claxton
Ben Fowlkes @BenFowlkesMMA 2018: 14-13 2016 Champion	Mitrione	Freire	McGeary	Hardy	Claxton
Ken Hathaway @kenshathaway 2018: 14-13	Nelson	Campos	McGeary	Julaton	Claxton
Fernanda Prates @nandaprates_ 2018: 13-14	Mitrione	Freire	McGeary	Hardy	Claxton
Brian Garcia @thegoze 2018: 13-14 2017 Champion	Mitrione	Freire	McGeary	Julaton	Claxton
Abbey Subhan @kammakaze 2018: 12-15	Mitrione	Campos	McGeary	Julaton	Claxton

Bellator returns Friday with its second heavyweight grand prix opening-round matchup in the main event.

Bellator 194 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Unasville, Conn. The main card airs on Paramount following prelims on MMAjunkie.

(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)

In the main event, Matt Mitrione (12-5 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) takes on Roy Nelson (22-14 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) in the heavyweight tournament. The fight is a rematch from when both fought in the UFC, and Nelson won that fight with a first-round knockout. Mitrione is favored this time around, and also is favored to win the whole tournament and become the next Bellator heavyweight champion. He’s also a big favorite among our 14 MMAjunkie editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers. Of them, 11 of 14 are picking Mitrione.

In the co-feature, Derek Campos (19-6 MMA, 8-4 BMMA) takes on Patricky Freire (18-8 MMA, 11-7 BMMA) in a lightweight bout that could determine next in line in the title-shot pecking order after champ Brent Primus defends his title in a rematch with former champ Michael Chandler in April. The voting is a 7-7 coin flip with our staff members, despite Campos’ status as a 2-1 underdog.

Heather Hardy (1-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) and Ana Julaton (2-3 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) are pro boxers who are new to the MMA game. They’ll fight each other in a women’s flyweight bout Friday, then book a boxing match later this year in a unique crossover rivarly opportunity. Although Hardy is more than a 3-1 favorite, she has just an 8-6 edge in our picks.

There are two blowouts in our picks, including one unanimous choice. After landing a viral flying knee for a knockout in his pro debut in October, Tywan Claxton (1-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) has the confidence of all 14 of our pickers in his featherweight follow-up against Jose Antonio Perez (0-1 MMA, 0-1 BMMA). And former light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary (12-2 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) is a near-unanimous choice against Vadim Nemkov (8-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA). Only one brave soul is taking Nemkov to win – though he’s only a very mild underdog.

In the MMAjunkie reader consensus picks, Mitrione, Freire, McGeary, Hardy and Claxton are the choices.

Check out all the picks above.

For more on Bellator 194, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.