Nikita Mikhailov vs Blaine Shutt: Mikhailov’s Win by Majority Decision

On the night of January 30, in Arizona, another Bellator event will occur. Russian fighter Nikita Mikhailov will meet American Blaine Shutt in one of the bouts. The fight will take place in the lightest weight class. Mikhailov is the youngest member of the Fedor Team.

Nikita is now on a streak of four straight wins. In his previous fight, he made his Bellator debut. Last October, he won by unanimous decision over Brian Moore (14:6 record at the time), taking two rounds out of three.

Yeah, Shutt seems to be a little easier opponent than Brian Moore, but American freestyle wrestling is still pretty good. I saw that he wrestles quite well, he knows how to fight. He reminds me stylistically of Eminov, a lefty and a wrestler.

Nikita Mikhailov

Shutt, like Mikhailov, only had one fight in Bellator but lost it to Erik Perez (19:8) by decision. Before that, he became the CES MMA champion with only one bout (which he won by split decision). Since 2015 he’s been strictly alternating between wins and losses.

If Shutt wins, it’s usually by submission. But Nikita Mikhailov has no such victories, and he almost always wins by decisions. It is difficult to compare the level of opposition because we do not know what kind of opponents came out against the American (perhaps, lower in class).

Analysts see Nikita Mikhailov as a considerable favourite. The odds of his victory are about 1.12, while the odds of Schutt’s victory are around 6.00. It’s silly to argue, but it’s also not interesting to bet for such low odds. We may bet on “Mikhailov winning by points”. Nikita rarely wins early, and he is from Bellator, but the opponent is the champion, even though in a local league.