Johnny Eblen Says Probability of Winning is High for Bellator 282

“My probabilities of beating him are high.”

Johnny Eblen is undefeated at 11-0, with a strong base in wrestling, and is ranked number one in the Bellator MMA middleweight rankings. Sound familiar? 

Austin Vanderford had pretty much the same accolades before he got his shot at the champ, Gegard Mousasi at Bellator 275. Vanderford lost so fans seeing the similarities in this match might be expecting the same outcome, but they would be wrong. Eblen is called “The Human Cheat Code” for nothing.

The come-up might be the same according to Eblen, but he’s definitely a different opponent. He may not have the code figured out a few days out from fight night, but at Bellator 282 media day Eblen said, “ I don’t have him figured out, I just think my probabilities of beating him are high. That’s why I took the fight and that’s why I called him out.”

Both Eblen and Vanderford are part of American Top Team and Eblen did see Vanderford’s fight and was able to speak to him afterward and both of them took something away from the fight. Eblen said Vanderford seemed nervous and that Vanderford admitted as much. 

“He seemed nervous. He tried to get him out of there in the first,” Eblen said and added, “I actually talked to him and he was like, ‘Yeah I was a little nervous.’ But, that’s okay. You learn from that type of stuff. I learned from it, I gotta go in there and realize I got 25 minutes. I don’t need to take this dude’s head off in the first round, or the second round, or the third round. I can if the opportunity presents itself. Maybe I’ll pull the trigger but always in the back of my mind, ‘I have 25-minutes.’”

25 minutes is a long time against the likes of Mousasi but as brutal as mixed martial arts may seem to the average fan, it’s still a game of chess at the world-class level and a long game could be the way to win for Eblen.

Eblen challenges Mousasi for the title Friday in the main event. The fight card is stacked with two bantamweight Grand Prix bouts and fan-favorite Brennan Ward versus Kassius Kayne. It airs on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. EST Friday.

Keep it locked on MyMMANews.com for live results.

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Edward Carbajal
Edward holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Bachelor's degree in Communications. Along with over 30 years of martial arts experience, he co-hosts The Coast-2-Coast Combat Hour podcast, and also writes for Spectation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @Carbazel