The first of two cards this weekend for our Saturday double-header is in. MMASucka staff picks kick off this afternoon, September 26 with Bellator Milan taking place from the Allianz Cloud in Italy. The main card begins at 5:00pm ET (3:00pm PT) live on Bellator’s YouTube channel.
Stay tuned in just a couple short hours for our UFC 253 staff picks. Also, look in our “Staff Picks” section for a major update regarding the remainder of the 2020 staff picks season.
The Fights
Rising middleweight stars Fabian Edwards and Costello van Steenis will battle in the main event slot. Edwards comes in still undefeated with eight straight professional victories. Today’s bout comes as his first in 2020 despite having a 4-0 run in 2019 following his signing with the promotion. The youthful 27-year-old looks to back up his last win over Mike Shipman. His opponent, van Steenis, has only faced defeat twice through his career including his last pairing with John Salter. Despite this, he also had a four-fight run in the promotion with his last victory over the aforementioned Shipman in June last year. Van Steenis will look for a thirteenth career win in search for either a fifth knockout or sixth submission.
Two additional 185-pounders of Mike Shipman and Pietro Penini are set in the co-main event. Shipman aims to rebound after back-to-back losses to the men in our main event, while Italy’s own Penini hopes to back up his promotional debut win over Charlie Ward.
A preliminary pairing between Ion Pascu and Stefan Paterno has also been included for our weekend’s picks. See the remaining Bellator Milan fights counted for our MMASucka staff picks further below.
Staff Picks
Throughout the year, staff picks will be composed of five different MMA promotions. UFC and Bellator. As of September 25th, the events of ONE and RIZIN will no longer be counted for our picks (including a recent deduction of the last two RIZIN cards from our records). With the cancellation of PFL for 2020, these will be excluded as well.
Main cards will makeup both UFC and Bellator picks. The WINNER of staff picks will have a choice between receiving a championship belt from ProAmBelts or a championship chain from Championship Chains. The 2019 winner was awarded to Michael DeSantis, compiling a record of 321-178. Second-place Connor Deitrich collected a close score of 319-180 with third-place Ed Gallo not far behind totaling at 312-183.
Check out our Bellator Milan staff picks below.
Staff Records after UFC Fight Night 178:
1T. Michael DeSantis: 139-58
1T. Connor Deitrich: 139-58
3. Wesley Riddle: 134-64
4. Jeremy Brand: 122-71
5. Nate Freeman: 120-74
6T. Matt Bricker: 117-71
6T. Frazer Krohn: 117-81
6T. Dan Rose: 117-81
6T. Jack Buchanan: 117-58
10T. Ash Camyab: 113-85
10T. Mike Lynch: 113-70
12. McKenzie Guardiero: 108-85
13. Andrew Benjamin: 102-90
14. Ryan Hobbs: 95-64
15. Ashwin Viswanathan: 83-51
16. Mike Skytte: 67-45
17. Mitchell Banuelos: 64-39
18. Joshua Yule: 55-28
19. Ed Gallo: 54-27
20. Jeremy Cook: 14-6
*Note: not all staff has picked for every event*
Ion Pascu (18-10) vs. Stefano Paterno (13-3-1)
Jeremy Brand: Paterno via UD
Wesley Riddle: Paterno via SD
Michael DeSantis: Paterno via UD
Connor Deitrich: Paterno via UD
Ash Camyab: Pascu via UD
Andrew Benjamin: Pascu via UD
Frazer Krohn: Pascu via UD
Dan Rose: Paterno via Round 1 TKO
Mike Lynch: Pascu via UD
Nate Freeman: Pascu via UD
Jack Buchanan: Paterno via UD
Staff picking Pascu: 5
Staff picking Paterno: 6
Will Fleury (7-2) vs. Kent Kauppinen (12-5)
Jeremy Brand: Kauppinen via Round 2 TKO
Wesley Riddle: Kauppinen via Round 1 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Kauppinen via UD
Connor Deitrich: Fleury via Round 1 TKO
Ash Camyab: Kauppinen via Round 2 TKO
Andrew Benjamin: Kauppinen via UD
Frazer Krohn: Fleury via Round 2 SUB
Dan Rose: Kauppinen via Round 2 TKO
Mike Lynch: Kauppinen via Round 3 TKO
Nate Freeman: Kauppinen via Round 1 TKO
Jack Buchanan: Kauppinen via Round 1 TKO
Staff picking Fleury: 2
Staff picking Kauppinen: 9
Michael Shipman (13-3) vs. Pietro Penini (9-1-1)
Jeremy Brand: Shipman via UD
Wesley Riddle: Shipman via UD
Michael DeSantis: Shipman via UD
Connor Deitrich: Shipman via Round 2 TKO
Ash Camyab: Shipman via UD
Andrew Benjamin: Shipman via UD
Frazer Krohn: Shipman via SD
Dan Rose: Penini via UD
Mike Lynch: Shipman via SD
Nate Freeman: Shipman via UD
Jack Buchanan: Shipman via UD
Staff picking Shipman: 10
Staff picking Penini: 1
Fabian Edwards (9-0) vs. Costello van Steenis (12-2)
Jeremy Brand: Edwards via UD
Wesley Riddle: Edwards via UD
Michael DeSantis: Edwards via UD
Connor Deitrich: Edwards via UD
Ash Camyab: Edwards via Round 3 TKO
Andrew Benjamin: Edwards via Round 2 TKO
Frazer Krohn: Edwards via Round 2 TKO
Dan Rose: Edwards via UD
Mike Lynch: van Steenis via UD
Nate Freeman: Edwards via SD
Jack Buchanan: Edwards via UD
Staff picking Edwards: 10
Staff picking van Steenis: 1
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